Consultant psychiatrists are spending too much of their time enjoying lavish overseas trips organised by drug companies, according to the Inspector of Mental Hospitals. Eithne Donnellan, Health Correspondent, reports
Dr Dermot Walsh, in his annual report for 2002 published yesterday, said he was concerned at the inroads made on consultant time "by the sharp increase in the promotional activities of pharmaceutical companies, some in out-of-state jurisdictions and of several days' duration". He said that while some meetings were educational and instructive and qualified for continuing professional development purposes, "others appear to present unscientific material aimed at influencing prescribing practice".
Asked to elaborate on his comments last evening he said: "A lot of these entertainments are lavish and one could say that there is almost an element of seduction about it all which is worrying."
He conceded doctors had to be made aware of therapeutic advances but claimed the efficacy of some of the products presented at such meetings often left something to be desired. "Certainly the presentation is often not very scientific and questionable," he said.
The Irish Hospital Consultants Association expressed surprise at his comments. Its secretary general, Mr Finbarr Fitzpatrick, said consultants' contracts allowed them seven days' annual leave, exclusive of travel time, for continuing education. "Unless they devote some of their annual leave to some of the activity Dr Walsh is talking about, I can't see how there is an increase in it," he said. Furthermore, he said, consultants were entitled to just €1,260 a year towards continuing medical education and without the support of drug companies, many of the valuable education activities which took place would not happen.
If the Department of Health wished to fund such activities, doctors would be delighted, he said. "In the era of compensation culture, there is no way doctors could allow themselves be inappropriately influenced as regards prescribing for patients," he added.
Meanwhile, Dr Walsh's report was also critical of nursing unions for "constantly" slowing down progress when it came to staff moving to new facilities. Usually the negotiations were over "movement money" and the slow progress was always to the disadvantage of patients, he said.