The president of the Medical Council has said the existing system for the regulation of doctors is an "archaic, dysfunctional and legally confrontational" one that does not work.
Dr John Hillery
Speaking in Dublin today at a Medical Council conference on competence assurance for doctors, Dr John Hillery welcomed the Tánaiste's plans to shortly produce new Medical Practitioners legislation to replace the existing 30-year-old Act.
However, he warned that a new regulatory system had to be careful not to make things worse rather than better. "The reassurance patients need at this time of damaged trust will not be delivered without a modern, properly resourced regulatory structure," Dr Hillery said.
The current system is not proper self-regulation, Dr Hillery said. "What we are involved in really is a legal battle to deal with damage done rather than a proactive standards promoting system. The system fails because it is designed to fail."
Dr Hillery said the Irish medical profession is at a watershed following the Lourdes Inquiry Report. "The context has changed forever. Those doctors who do not recognise this must soon wake up or be left out of the most important debate for the profession."
But he warned: "I am not convinced that we all, doctors and patients, would be better served by State-run medical regulation. If such a State system is to be enacted it will need to be properly thought out and debated to the advantage of the patient."
He added: "I believe a professionally led regulation with a major input from non-doctors is best for patients. . . . A modern system of self-regulation has not been tried in Ireland. I believe the public deserve that. I ask for proper self-regulation, proactive and accountable. It deserves a trial."