Medical Council launches Annual Report for 2019

Growth in number of Specialists Welcomed

Tuesday, 29th September 2020: The Medical Council, the regulatory body for doctors in Ireland, has today launched its Annual Report for 2019.

Annual Report Highlights

• 23,555 doctors on the Medical Register – up from 22,996 in 2018
• 56.6% of registered doctors were male while 43.4% were female
• 10,923 registered on the Specialist Register up from 9,577
• 36% of doctors were aged 35 or under
• 59% of registered doctors received their primary medical qualification in Ireland; 14% from another EU/EEA country; and 27% from another country
• 431 complaints received about doctors

2019 was an extremely busy year for the Medical Council across the full remit of the Council. The Medical Register continued to grow with the biggest increase noted in the Specialist Register, which saw significant growth with 10,923 registered in 2019 compared to 9,577 in 2018.

Medical Council CEO, Mr Philip Brady, said: “We welcome the continued growth in the Specialist Register again in 2019. Doctors with specialist registration may practise independently, without supervision and may represent themselves as specialists, usually employed in consultant roles.”

“The Specialist Register is growing faster than other registers, with the Trainee Specialist Register also growing, increasing by over 168 doctors on the previous two years. This is a very welcome development for a health service which has a shortage of consultants.”

“An issue that remained in 2019, and into this year, is the barrier to Non-EU/EEA doctors in accessing specialist training. These doctors, who have played a pivotal role working in Irish hospitals for years, are a key part of our health service, yet have not been allowed to progress in their careers due to legislative shortcomings. Thankfully, this issue will be addressed in new legislation, the Regulated Professions (Health and Social Care) (Amendment) Bill 2019, which is due to complete its progress through the Oireachtas in the next week.”

“Research is vital for workforce planning and in ensuring training experiences are meeting standards and expectations. Again in 2019, the Medical Council published its detailed Medical Workforce Intelligence Report, a key annual study providing essential information and intelligence as to the make-up of the medical workforce and why doctors remain within or depart from the Irish health system. This report was also presented to the Oireachtas Committee on Health.”

“The Council also published Your Training Counts, a national trainee experience survey, conducted each year by the Medical Council, documenting the experiences of trainee doctors and interns in the Irish healthcare system. It examines the clinical learning environments, working conditions, experiences of bullying, retention and career plans, and health and wellbeing of doctors on training schemes.”

“Our role in Education and Training saw the publications of reports on clinical training sites inspections on two hospital groups - Dublin Midlands Hospital and The National Children’s Hospital Group - which involved ten clinical training sites being inspected as part of the Medical Council’s quality assurance role in medical education and training.”

“It is reassuring that having met with hospital group management and inspected the educational facilities on site, that the sites were not found to be non-compliant in any area, with either full or partial compliance in all areas. However, concerns continue to exist regarding access to protected training time for Trainees due to staffing shortages.”

“Continuous professional development is very important for all careers, and especially for doctors. In 2019, the Medical Council conducted an independent review of the Maintenance of Professional Competence (MPC) model in collaboration with Postgraduate Training Bodies (PGTBs), employers, indemnifiers, the HSE’s National Doctors Training and Planning, and the Department of Health.”

“Complaints against doctors rose slightly again in 2019. The Council handles complaints relating to a doctor's fitness to practise medicine and can take action where it has been found that a doctor has serious failings in his/her practice. For less serious complaints we continue to encourage the public to make a complaint in the first instance locally to a hospital or practice management, as a satisfactory outcome can often be achieved this way,” concluded Mr Brady.

Acknowledging the challenges of COVID-19, President of the Medical Council, Dr Rita Doyle, stated “It is obvious to us all that we are in a very different world this year than we were in 2019 with the onset of COVID-19 globally.”

“As a health service, the challenges we faced in 2019 have been further highlighted this year, however significant progress has been made on a number of fronts and I highly commend the work of our public health teams and all doctors around the country.”

“The increase in numbers of the Specialist Register in 2019 is most welcome. To qualify for the Specialist Register doctors must have undertaken very high levels of training and as such an increase in these numbers can only serve to benefit the standards in Irish healthcare.”

“It is also very positive to see an increase in the number of female doctors registered with the Medical Council, which has gone some way towards achieving gender balance in Irish medicine. I hope that adequate supports will be put in place by employers to encourage this trend to continue.”

“Throughout 2019, the Medical Council continued to issue guidance on many issues such as prescribing practises, the prescription of Benzodiazepines and issued an updated edition of its Guide to Professional Conduct and Ethics for Registered Medical Practitioners, which contains revised guidance for doctors following the enactment of the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018.”

“My message to doctors across Ireland, who have had a very challenging year to date, is to once again commend you for your hard work. As we enter an extremely busy winter period, I want to remind you of your ethical responsibility to look after your own wellbeing and ensure you are getting rest, eating well, exercising and spending time relaxing. Your own well-being will be of benefit to those patients you serve and the wider community,” concluded Dr Doyle.

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