Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the delegations for their presentations. In August 2013, when drafting legislation requiring that it be compulsory that all medical practitioners have insurance, I met the secretary of the Irish Association of Plastic Surgeons. Some of the stories the secretary told me were quite frightening, including how the association regularly has to pick up the pieces when people come to its members to have rectified cosmetic surgery that was carried out in Ireland by a person from abroad who was not qualified and had left the country. Since that meeting I have published the Private Members' Bill requiring that it be compulsory for all medical practitioners to have insurance. A person wishing to drive a car must have insurance. As a solicitor, before practising, I am required to have insurance, yet medical practitioners are not required to have insurance. I know that the Government recently signed off on a new Bill in this area.

I would like to hear from the delegates if they believe making it compulsory for all medical practitioners to have insurance will solve some of the problems in this area. I accept it will not resolve all of the problems but would it be of help in addressing this issue? Are the delegates satisfied that the penalties that can be imposed where a person does not comply with current legislation are adequate? Have the delegates examined the proposed legislation to make it compulsory that every person providing medical care has insurance and, if so, is there in their view anything further that can be done to improve it?

The second issue to which I wish to refer falls slightly outside our guests' area of expertise. One of the matters that has come to my attention in recent months relates to the number of people who are engaged in providing services which are beyond their levels of competence. It appears that everyone is buying scanning machines. In that context, I understand the insurance currently offered to general practitioners does not cover the use of such machines. I heard an entertaining story recently about a person who had a pacemaker fitted and who had attended a medical practitioner's practice for a routine check-up. During the check-up the medical practitioner in question decided to scan the pacemaker. I do not know what was the point of doing so. It is odd - this is not just happening in the area of cosmetic surgery - that people are offering certain additional services. How can we ensure that, even though individuals may be qualified and competent in providing particular services, they cannot just automatically expand the range of services they offer without first undergoing the necessary training and that they have adequate insurance cover in the event that any service they provide proves inadequate?