Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 43:

In page 107, between lines 12 and 13, to insert the following: “Amendment of section 91 of Act of 2007

120. Section 91 of the Act of 2007 is amended by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (7):

“(7) Where, arising from the performance of its duty under subsection (1), the Council considers that a medical practitioner registered in the General Division, the Specialist Division, the Trainee Specialist Division or the Supervised Division has been given every reasonable opportunity by the Council to improve the practitioner’s professional performance but whose professional competence is found by the Council to continue to be below the standards of competence that can reasonably be expected for continued registration in the General Division, the Specialist Division, the Trainee Specialist Division or the Supervised Division, as the case may be, then the Council may make a complaint.”.”.

Doctors are obliged to maintain their professional competence by following the requirements set by the Medical Council and enrolling in professional competence schemes. Section 91 of the Medical Practitioners Act places a duty on the Medical Council to satisfy itself as to the ongoing maintenance of doctors' professional competence. Section 91(7) of the Act provides the council with the explicit power to make a complaint to the Preliminary Proceedings Committee where a doctor in a specialist division or trainee specialist division fails to meet the standard of competence that can be expected of them, despite being given an opportunity to do so. The proposed amendment extends this power to include doctors registered on two other registers, namely the general division and the supervised division. This amendment would ensure that the Medical Council's powers of complaint in relation to professional competence apply to all relevant categories of doctors, which would enhance patient safety.