A consultant orthodontist attached to St James's Hospital in Dublin was suspended without pay because she failed to commence active treatment of patients who were being left without treatment, the High Court heard yesterday.
She also failed to co-operate in the management and development of the orthodontic service, it was claimed.
Mr Ercus Stewart SC, for the South Western Area Health Board, said the board had acted at all times within statutory procedures in its decision to suspend Dr Catherine McNamara from September 19th, 2000.
The suspension was not a disciplinary sanction but rather the start of a process of inquiry which could lead to Dr McNamara's reinstatement, as had happened before, or her removal.
He said the decision to suspend was properly taken by the board's chief executive officer, Mr Pat Donnelly, and followed Dr McNamara's failure to adequately respond to a letter of August 24th, 2000, from the assistant chief executive, Mr Seamus O'Brien, requiring her to take a number of actions to resolve the problems facing the orthodontic service.
Counsel said the board denied there was a crisis in the orthodontic service but accepted there were problems. To address those, the board required the co-operation of its senior officers, but this was not forthcoming from Dr McNamara.
She was required, among other things, to personally begin the active treatment of as many patients as possible who had been left without treatment for up to one year and to co-operate with any arrangements put in place by the board to have patients treated by competent clinicians from outside the board. Mr Stewart said Dr McNamara had forwarded a report setting out data but had failed to address the matters which the board wished her to address.
Mr Stewart was making submissions on the second day of a judicial review of the decision to suspend Dr McNamara for alleged misconduct. The hearing concluded yesterday and Mr Justice Kearns reserved judgment.
Dr McNamara claims there is no credible basis for her suspension, that it was made unreasonably, in excess of the powers of the CEO, and in breach of fair procedures.
Mr Gerard Hogan SC, with Mr Roddy Horan, for Dr McNamara, has alleged she was suspended against a background of crisis in the orthodontic service in the South Western Area Health Board area, where 11,000 people are on a waiting list for treatment and hundreds of others have had their treatment interrupted for up to a year.
Closing the case yesterday, Mr Hogan said Dr McNamara had fully responded to the matter raised by the board and had submitted a detailed report. Counsel said the suspension was made without Mr Donnelly having sufficient information before him or having made the appropriate enquiries.