Written answers

Tuesday, 5 October 2021

Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment

Personal Injuries Commission

Photo of Matt ShanahanMatt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent)
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80. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will clarify the substance of the initiatives in relation to the Action Plan on Insurance Reform (details supplied); the number of doctors that have completed the clinical education referenced to date; if that education is now standardised training at CPD level and specified in the personal commission reports from which this recommendation was taken; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47588/21]

Photo of Robert TroyRobert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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Under Action 65 of the Action Plan for Insurance Reform, my Department committed to overseeing and monitoring the recommendations of the Personal Injuries Commission (PIC).

The PIC was established following a recommendation contained in the Report of the Cost of Insurance Working Group on the Cost of Motor Insurance published in January 2017, the Personal Injuries Commission (PIC) was established in February 2017 under an independent chair. The first report of the PIC, published in December 2017, recommended“Training and Accreditation of medical professionals who complete personal injury medical reports should be promoted. This should become ‘Best Practice’ and training should be introduced at the CPD level.”

In March 2018 the Personal Injuries Commission engaged with medical stakeholders on an education package for doctors. There was also engagement between the Personal Injuries Assessment Board (PIAB) and medical professional bodies the Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP) and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) in relation to the PIC recommendation.

In December 2020 I wrote to the ICGP and RCSI requesting updates on this recommendation. Further to this engagement the ICGP reported on initiatives undertaken to progress clinical education of GPs around assessment of soft tissue injuries and standardisation of medical report writing. These initiatives included dedicated training and providing assistance in the design and development of a management and assessment algorithm for use by medical professionals. The RCSI report that the curriculum of training for all their surgical specialties and emergency medicine are adequate to ensure these professionals are competent to make an assessment of relevant medical injuries, the RCSI will continue to advocate for the highest standards of medical care and support the recommendations of the PIC report.

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