Catherine Noone (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I second the motion. I welcome the Bill, which we have been calling for since 2009. I am glad we have been consistent in this regard and that we are acting on the matter now that we are in government. This is an eminently sensible Bill which will reduce liability and offer peace of mind by obliging medical practitioners to hold professional indemnity insurance. This should have been the case for many years. It is incredible that Ireland does not have a regulatory authority which can force doctors to take out insurance, with the result that they are not legally obliged to be insured. Many medical practitioners have insurance cover but those who do not have insurance are not necessarily disadvantaged, which leads honest doctors to question their own wisdom. Such a lax attitude would not be tolerated in the legal world, as I know from my own experience. We cannot practise without indemnity insurance and, in many cases, clients insist that the appropriate level of cover is in place before they will employ a solicitor. This is particularly common in the area in which I specialise, namely, insurance defence. It is incredible that the same standards do not apply in the medical world, where mistakes cannot be undone. It seems appropriate that patients should be able to ask their GPs or medical consultants about their insurance cover before they take on their services.

This Bill will require written evidence of medical and professional indemnity insurance to be submitted to the Medical Council before it will issue a certificate of competency to practise. I was concerned about the implication for current doctors who do not have professional indemnity insurance but have already been granted a certificate by the Medical Council. It appears this is covered appropriately by sections 7 and 8, however. Section 7 states that it is an offence for a person to practise medicine without having in place professional indemnity cover. Similarly, section 8 sets out a duty on medical insurers to notify the Medical Council if they become aware that a medical practitioner's professional indemnity cover has lapsed or been cancelled.

If the Medical Council, the State Claims Agency and the Financial Regulator work together to determine the appropriate level of insurance to be held by practitioners, it would be straightforward to migrate to this system without causing serious problems for medical practitioners while providing an assurance to patients that they are in safe hands at all times.