RULES ALLOWING for the temporary registration of non-EU doctors have been adopted by the Medical Council following a week-long public consultation.
The “supervised division” of the medical register allows doctors from outside the European Union to practise in hospital settings in supervised posts for a maximum of two years, subject to further clinical examination and assessment.
The rules, provided for under the Medical Practitioners (Amendment) Act, 2011, aim to address the acute shortage of staff in hospital emergency wards throughout the Republic.
Of the 4,660 junior doctor posts in the Irish hospital system as of last Monday, there were 128 vacancies, according to the Health Service Executive.
President of the Medical Council Prof Kieran Murphy yesterday moved to reassure patients the new registration rules would ensure that junior doctors had the necessary education, training and competence to work safely.
“The system of registration is not simply a tick-box exercise but a very extensive assessment of the doctor’s qualifications, his or her disciplinary history and their competence via examination,” he said.
His comments come after a Romanian doctor recruited to work at Letterkenny General Hospital was found guilty of poor professional performance at a Medical Council fitness-to-practise inquiry on Tuesday. The inquiry heard she could not take a patient’s pulse.
The council’s annual report for 2010 showed it received 361 complaints last year, a 22 per cent increase on the previous year.
The highest number of complaints, 160, related to doctors’ professional standards, while 86 related to treatment. The report showed 30 complaints related to a failure to communicate, or rudeness by doctors.
There were 12 complaints for a failure to attend a patient and 10 relating to alcohol or drug use, or irresponsible prescribing.
The council’s chief executive, Caroline Spillane, said the council expected the number of complaints to increase in the coming years as the public became more aware of the council’s role and processes.
According to its report, the highest proportion of complaints were levelled against GPs, obstetricians and gynaecologists
A total of 54 complaints were referred by the council to fitness-to-practise inquiries, an increase of 23 on 2009.
Some 19 doctors were found guilty of professional misconduct and two had their names taken off the medical register last year. Other sanctions administered by the council included: suspension; placing conditions on a doctor’s ability to practise; and advising, admonishing or censuring a doctor.
Most of the cases referred to fitness-to-practise inquiries related to doctors trained in Ireland, who accounted for 65 per cent of the 18,770-strong register.
However, there was a significantly higher proportion of decisions (41 per cent) against doctors who had qualified in schools outside the EU, who made up 25 per cent of doctors on the register.
Twenty-three doctors currently have conditions imposed on their registration to practise.
