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Doctors were the subject of 279 complaints to the Medical Council in 2020 down from 421 in 2019.
The Medical Council Annual Report indicated that a number of the complaints related to one doctor. However, some of the complaints received in 2020 relate to two or more practitioners.
The total number of complaints was down 35. 3 percent on 2019. In addition to new complaints received in 2020, 271 complaints were carried over from previous years, that is complaints where investigations were extensive and ongoing.
One GP was struck off, three had conditions attached to their registration and seven were advised, admonished or censured following an inquiry.
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Some 1,160 new doctors were registered from 2019 to 2020 with 24,720 doctors now on the Medical Register. For the first time the register has five per cent more female than male doctors in the 20 -25 age group.
Fifty six per cent of registered doctors were male while 44 percent were female. Just over a third of doctors were aged 35 or under while 420 doctors were restored to the Medical Register to help during the Covid-19 pandemic after having responded to the ‘Be On Call for Ireland’ campaign.
Speaking at the launch of the annual report Medical Council CEO, Leo Kearns, highlighted the need for a renewed focus on workforce planning across the medical workforce.
He said by any standard 2020 had been an ‘extraordinary’ year in the life of the health service.
“The dedication of healthcare staff to meet the challenge of delivering care to their patients and the wider community in such difficult circumstances has been truly outstanding.
“The experience of this past year has once again reminded us that our health service is fundamentally dependent on the people who work in it. Quite simply, without these people there can be no health service, and without high quality staff there can be no high quality and safe healthcare for patients.”
Mr Kearns stressed that we must once again focus on the many significant and serious medical workforce issues that face the health service in Ireland, many of which “long predated the pandemic”.
‘Doctor wellbeing’
“Last December we published the annual Medical Workforce Intelligence Report for 2019 and 2020 which highlighted many issues such as excessive working hours, resourcing issues, workplace bullying, consultant vacancies, doctor training numbers and the need for greater focus on doctor wellbeing.”
The data in the report described the continued trend of a growing number of doctors in the general division of the register and the loss of doctors from the health system due to lack of access to training, poor working conditions and natural retirement”.”
Mr Kearns says the report highlights a number of issues of concern for the Medical Council such as doctor burnout, bullying issues and doctors working in excess of the European Working Time Directive.
“Only a commitment to collective, coordinated and planned action across stakeholders will produce solutions.”
“In the interest of enabling and enhancing the delivery of high quality and safe care to patients, a concerted and collaborative effort is required by all stakeholders in identifying effective solutions for tackling issues such as workforce retention and doctor wellbeing” concluded Mr Kearns.
Medical Council President, Dr Suzanne Crowe said 2020 was a year that will live long in the memory.
“As a doctor I am extremely proud and honoured to work alongside front-line workers across the health service during the greatest challenge we have ever faced”.
“The Medical Council restored 420 doctors to the Medical Register in 2020, doctors returning home from abroad, coming out of retirement or returning to medical practice. To see these doctors return to practise gave the nation a huge boost during the darkest days of the early pandemic.”
“As we move to the next phase of the pandemic we must look to the future, we must look out for our workforce and address the systemic issues impacting the medical workforce so we can truly protect patients, support our doctors and minimise the risk of adverse events.”