The Fitness to Practise Committee of the Medical Council is under severe pressure due to the recent resignation of one of the council's lay members, Ms Siobhan Whitehead.
The committee is currently investigating six doctors in the State and has another 24 inquiries pending, according to figures given to The Irish Times. Ms Whitehead was one of three lay members of the 25strong council. Each fitness to practise inquiry must, by law, have at least one lay person in attendance. With six inquiries ongoing at present, the two remaining lay members on the council are simultaneously sitting on three separate fitness to practise hearings.
The Medical Council formally requested a replacement for Ms Whitehead from the Department of Health six weeks ago.
It is widely expected that a new Medical Practitioners Act - likely to go before Dail in the autumn - will include provision for a significant increase in lay membership of the council.
Meanwhile, in its submission to the Consultative Forum on Health Strategy 2001, the council has highlighted two broad issues of concern - the provision of emergency medical services and the effect of regionalisation of health services. "Care in the emergency department must be provided by appropriately trained and supervised staff. Medical Council hospital inspection teams have repeatedly been concerned that deficiencies in staffing, training and equipment exist in some departments," the submission states.
Referring to the provision of regionalised hospital services throughout the State, the submission says "while the concept of local and accessible service to patients is an admirable one, it must not be provided at the expense of a proper standard of care".