James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

While I appreciate that the Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, could not attend this discussion, the appointment of non-qualified medical personnel as consultants is a matter for the Minister for Health, Deputy Simon Harris, notwithstanding that the focus of the discussion is on psychiatric consultants. The dangerous practice I have highlighted has been described as scandalous by the President of the High Court who has written to as many of the relevant stakeholders as possible about the matter. Patients are not being informed that some of the consultants attending to them are unqualified. Some non-qualified consultants are being struck off the medical register because of medical errors. Are patients being notified of these medical errors, as is their entitlement?

There is a perverse incentive built into the current system. A trainee psychiatrist faces two choices. First, he or she can choose to spend three or four years doing higher training on a lower salary and trying to make his or her way through the proper channels. He or she also has the option to skip this step, however, and go straight into a senior position with a higher salary and the status that comes with a consultant role. If he or she can hold this position for three years, the post will almost certainly be made permanent, which means a specialist role in psychiatry will be permanently filled by someone who is not qualified. In such circumstances, it is the patients who lose out.

This is a serious matter. The words of the President of the High Court did not receive the attention they deserve because other very serious matters have arisen in health in recent weeks. People are becoming more aware that they are being treated by unqualified consultants. This matter will not go away as and must be addressed as a matter of urgency.

See this speech in context