Medical Council Statement on publication of MPS Survey results

Wednesday, 12th June 2024: The Medical Council (‘the Council’) welcomes the publication of the MPS Survey results and has thanked MPS for its research. Medical indemnifiers play an important role in supporting doctors who are the subject of a complaint. The Council strongly encourages all doctors to ensure that they are members of one of the medical indemnifiers operating in Ireland.

The survey, which hears from 114 medical practitioners who have been investigated by the Medical Council over a five-year period (2018 – 2023), aims to get a better understanding of doctors’ experiences who have undergone a Medical Council investigation.

Over the past number of years, the Medical Council has already acted upon many recommendations highlighted in the report. Further recommendations are due to be implemented in the near future.

We are very much aware of the stress that the complaints process can place on a doctor, as well for complainants involved in the process. The Medical Council deals with complaints of a serious nature in a manner that is set out in legislation.

Right-touch regulation

The Medical Council believes in right-touch regulation and the importance of embedding compassion into its regulatory processes. The path toward adopting a more compassionate approach to regulation begins with the Medical Council acknowledging how its interactions may be interpreted and their potential influence on the psychological health and well-being of registrants and the public.

A compassionate approach does not require compromising professional standards. Instead, it depends on clear and timely communication. Patients can still have confidence that public safety is central to all our work.

Improvements made by the Medical Council

The Medical Council is bound to follow its legislation and as it implements its regulatory powers, with systems that were historically established to manage complaints being very legalistic in nature.

In recent years, the Council has made numerous enhancements to the complaints and investigations process such as:

• Seeking legislative changes, which were passed by the Houses of Oireachtas.
• Ensuring that members of the public have access to information on local complaints processes where less serious complaints can be dealt with, often very quickly and to the satisfaction of all parties.
• Reviewing and improving of correspondence templates to doctors and complainants pointing to relevant supporting resources for doctors who are undergoing the complaints process.
• Reviewing and updating public information for participants about the complaints and investigations process on the Medical Council website.
• A doctor wellbeing campaign was run, with wellbeing resources for doctors developed and materials made easily accessible to doctors, shared online and via social media.

Additional future improvements

The Medical Council has worked closely with the Department of Health in recent years to seek legislative changes to make improvements to the complaints process and that will allow less serious complaints to be resolved at an earlier stage. This legislation will also help to facilitate our move to a more flexible regulatory model. We look forward to this legislation being commenced later this year. 

The Medical Council is reviewing and realigning our approach to dealing with complaints against doctors within our regulatory processes. A number of changes are underway which embed compassion and agility into the regulatory process. This programme is based on several principles: looking at compassion, kindness, and empathy in all correspondence and language across the organisation; well-being supports that can be integrated throughout the entire lifecycle of a doctor; and a dedicated contact centre to reduce response times for stakeholders. These initiatives represent the initial steps toward embedding compassion within the regulations of the Medical Council.

We know that doctors find being under complaints investigation very stressful, and that regulatory investigations can have very serious implications on a doctor’s wellbeing, and it is important to us to do all we can to minimise that. Complainants can also find the process difficult and our aim of adopting a more compassionate approach will focus on clear and more timely communication, enhancing transparency. 

In 2023, there were 29,488 medical practitioners on the Medical Council Register. During 2023, the Medical Council opened 353 complaints, which represents 1.3% of the total Register. In 2023, a total of 61 complaints were referred to the Fitness to Practise Committee. Forty-nine fitness to practise inquiries were concluded during that year.

The Medical Council maintains the Register of Medical Practitioners - the register of all doctors who are legally permitted to undertake medical work in Ireland. The Council also sets the standards for medical education and training in Ireland. It oversees lifelong learning and skills development throughout doctors' professional careers through its professional competence requirements. It is charged with promoting good medical practice. The Medical Council is also where the public may make a complaint against a doctor.