Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 2 April 2014

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection

Accreditation for the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland Facility in Bahrain: Discussion (Resumed)

2:40 pm

Ms Mary Doyle:

A wide range of issues have been discussed. The main concern is to uphold the standards in medical education. Regarding Bahrain, the Department has sketched a very robust statutory framework within which accreditation and evaluation take place. The 2007 Act provides that the objective of the Medical Council is to protect the public and deliver improvements in patient safety by promoting and better ensuring high standards of professional conduct and professional education, training and competence among registered medical practitioners. That legislative framework is in place and there are a number of rigorous processes regarding the accreditation of the work that RCSI is doing in Bahrain. It very much welcomes the Medical Council comments on public scrutiny of the work it will be doing.