Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I will bring the conversation back to what the committee was for today. We are talking about doctors going to the Middle East and I know it is related but the committee meeting today is about doctors working as consultants in Ireland who are not on the specialist register. That is why we are here. We are all aware of the CervicalCheck scandal that has emerged over the last few days. It is causing a lack of confidence between the public and their doctors. It is clear, in the case of Vicky Phelan, that her doctor knew about not a false negative but a missed screening of cancer in 2011, did not tell her and did not want to tell her. We know that 13 other hospitals had doctors who did not share the information. It is fracturing trust between the public and their doctors. There are big issues to ask about the level of trust between doctors and the HSE. That is where we are this week. We hear that not only may patients now be worried that their doctors are not sharing everything with them but that their consultant is not a consultant. What we have heard this morning is shocking. A professional organisation states "it has become apparent that these most basic [professional] standards are not being observed when filling an increasing number of consultant posts and there is a [grave] concern that this development is not in the best interests of patient care." That is what we are here to talk about. Who is responsible for this? Is it the Medical Council? Is it the HSE? Is it the Department? Is there another body that we are not aware of? I understand that there are no legal definitions for consultants but for specialists. In the eyes of the public, in layman's terms, people hear that their consultant may not be a consultant. Whose responsibility is it to make sure that, when a member of the public is referred to a consultant, that man or woman is in fact a registered consultant?