Medicine – a ProfessionGuidelines and Regulations

Prof Orla Sheils

Department of Histopathology

TCD

Medicine – a professionMedicine – a profession

• Major attributes of a profession

– Acquisition of learning prior to practice– Requirement for continued learning after

qualification

– Separate sense of identity– Ethical code of conduct

Statutory and non-statutory professionsStatutory and non-statutory professions

• Statutory – Profession is backed by law– Law creates a regulatory body

• Supervisory and disciplinary powers

– Self-regulating with deference to the laws of the state

• Non-statutory– More loosely affiliated– Representing body without regulatory or

disciplinary powers

Examples:Examples:

• Statutory

• Doctors(Medical Practitioners Act 1978)

• Dentists (Dentists Act 1985)

• Nurses (Nurses Act 1985)

• Pharmacists (Pharmacy Act (Ireland) 1875, Pharmacy Act 1962)

• Opticians (Opticians Act 1956)

• Non-Statutory

• Physiotherapists

• Radiographers

• Occupational Therapists

• Speech Therapists

• Social Worker

• Dietician

Statutory Regulatory Bodies are responsible for:Statutory Regulatory Bodies are responsible for:

• Defining ethical guidelines

• Overseeing disciplinary issues and fitness to practice of members– Generally suspension or removal from

register is conducted under supervision fo the High Court

• Maintaining a register of practitioners

Statutory Regulatory BodiesStatutory Regulatory Bodies

• Created by a specific law which empowers them to oversee and regulate aspects of the profession.– Medicine

• Medical Council – Medical Practitioners Act 1978

• The Medical Council protects the interests of the public when dealing with registered medical practitioners.

• The Council was established by the Medical Practitioners Act 1978 and commenced operation in April 1979.

• “It shall be a function of the Council to give guidance to the medical profession generally on all matters relating to ethical conduct and behaviour”

The principal roles of the Medical Council include:The principal roles of the Medical Council include:

• assuring the quality of undergraduate education of doctors

• assuring the quality of postgraduate training of specialists

• registration of doctors

• disciplinary procedures

• guidance on professional standards / ethical conduct

Medical CouncilMedical Council

• Elections held every 5 years• 25 members - representatives

– Irish Medical Schools– RCS (surgery and anaesthetics/radiology)– RCPI (Medicine and Pathology and Obs

and Gynae)– Psychiatry, General Practitioners– Medical Practitioners elected from the

profession– Ministerial Appointees

Medical Council- BreakdownMedical Council- Breakdown

• 25 members– 5 appointed by authorities of medical schools in

the State.– 6 appointed to represent medical and surgical

specialities, psychiatry and general practice.– 10 registered practitioners elected by the

profession– 4 people appointed by Minister for Health (at least

3 of whom must come from outside the medical profession).

Medical CouncilMedical Council

• Maintains register of practitioners– Full, provisional or temporary

• “Full registration is available to any doctor who has a recognised medical qualification together with recognised and verifiable experience, either prescribed by law or acceptable to the Medical Council, as a practitioner.”

• Doctors from Ireland and EU entitled to full registration

RegistrationRegistration

• Full registration – This permits a doctor to work as an independent

practitioner.

• Internship Registration – This permits a doctor to carryout internship training in

approved hospitals.  Internship training normally begins immediately after graduation from medical school and lasts for one year. Only graduates of Irish and EU medical schools may do their internship in Ireland.

• Temporary Registration– This form of registration allows non EU doctors to practise

medicine in approved hospitals under consultant supervision in a specialty recognised by the Medical Council. 

RegistrationRegistration

• Register of Medical Specialists – contains the names of registered specialists.  – Register of Medical Specialists is a voluntary

register.  Only doctors who currently hold full registration in the General Register of Medical Practitioners may apply to have their names entered in the Register of Medical Specialists. 

– If a doctor removes his/her name from the General Register they are automatically removed from the Specialist Register.

It is an offence under the Medical Practitioners Act for a doctor to

falsely represent himself/herself to be a registered medical practitioner

when they are not registered.

Medical Council RegisterMedical Council Register

• Register of Medical Practitioners– Medical insurance companies require registration

before insurance cover is given.  – Registration is required to sign medical certificates

and to issue prescriptions for certain categories of drugs. 

– Doctors are not entitled to recover in legal proceedings, fees charged for the provision of medical or surgical advice or treatment given when they were not registered.

• Register of Medical Specialists– Expected to enrol once training is complete

• Public Document– May be inspected by any member of the public 

Medical Council - EducationMedical Council - Education

• Assess Training and Education of training centres

• Input into curricula and level of experience deemed necessary

• Postgraduate Medical Board – specific responsibility for postgraduate

training.

Medical Council-Disciplinary FunctionMedical Council-Disciplinary Function

• Area which has occasioned much interest

• Combination of proactive and reactive/punitive approaches

Medical Council-Disciplinary FunctionMedical Council-Disciplinary Function

• Proactive:– Publication of guidelines

• Benchmark for medical practice

– Competence Assurance• Ongoing confirmation of clinical standards• Continuing education• Clinical audit

Medical Council-Disciplinary FunctionMedical Council-Disciplinary Function

• Punitive/Reactive measures regarding misconduct or fitness to practice:– Censure or admonishment– Attachment of conditions to continuing

practice– Suspension from the register– Erasure from the register

Medical Council-Disciplinary FunctionMedical Council-Disciplinary Function

• Disciplinary decisions regarding suspension or erasure from register MUST be approved by the High Court.

• Council can request an immediate order of the Court, enforcing suspension if it is deemed to be in the public interest.

Professional MisconductProfessional Misconduct

• ‘…conduct which doctors of experience, competence and good repute, upholding the fundamental aims of the profession, consider disgraceful and dishonourable….’

• Must have an element of moral failure or persistent recklessness/negligence

Fair procedure and disciplinary mattersFair procedure and disciplinary matters

• Irish Constitution declares the administration of justice is reserved to judges.

• Court requires to know that any decision was based on reasonable and if fair procedures were followed in making the decision.

Fitness to practiceFitness to practice

• The Fitness to Practice Committee consists of members of the Medical Council, of which, the majority must be elected and include at least one lay member. At present the three lay members appointed by the Minister for Health to represent the public interest sit on the Fitness to Practice Committee.

Fitness to practiceFitness to practice

• The Fitness to Practice Committee of the Medical Council  has a statutory duty under Part V of Medical Practitioners Act, 1978 to consider complaints made by the Council or any person into the conduct of a registered medical practitioner on the grounds of:–     his/her alleged professional misconduct and/or, –     his/her fitness to engage in the practice of

medicine by reason of physical or mental disability.

Fair procedure and disciplinary mattersFair procedure and disciplinary matters

• Delay– Timely investigation, as delay can hinder a person’s ability to

defend themselves.

• Notice– Requirement for due notice so a person can prepare a defence

• Hearing– Generally presented by barristers– Cross-examination

• Reasons– Full reasons regarding any decision must be provided –to facilitate

appeal if appropriate

• Prejudice and Bias– Unfair if a person has already made up their mind– Bias- more subtle, financial interest, personal or political position

• Proportionate nature of censure– Punishment should fit the crime

Irish Healthcare systemIrish Healthcare system

• Mix of public and private funding.• Everyone is entitled to free public

inpatient and outpatient care in public hospitals should they wish to avail of them.

Irish Healthcare systemIrish Healthcare system

• Administration and delivery of services– Legislature– Minister– Department of Health and Children– Health Service Executive and regional health

authorities– Others e.g.:

• Irish Medicines Board

• Health Research Board

• Comhairle ns nOispidéal

• IBTS

HSEHSE

• Up until January 2005, public health and personal social services in Ireland were delivered by a network of ten health boards, located throughout the country.

• Health and personal social services in Ireland are now delivered by the Health Service Executive, through a network of Local Health Offices, health centres and clinics.

HSEHSE

• Each Health Service Executive Administrative Area is responsible for the provision of health and social services in its area.

• They provide many of the services directly and they arrange for the provision of other services by health professionals, private health service providers, voluntary hospitals and voluntary/community organisations.

Duty of HSE to provide servicesDuty of HSE to provide services

• The HSE Area is obliged to provide certain services, e.g., family doctor (GP) and public hospital services.

• There are other services that they may provide, e.g., home helps and other community care services.

• A significant part of the HSE Area's overall budget is allocated to those services that are obligatory.

Suggested ReadingSuggested Reading

• Clinical Practice and the Law– Simon Mills

• Law and Medical Ethics– Mason, McCall Smith, Laurie

• Medicine Ethics and the Law – Deirdre Madden

• http://www.medicalcouncil.ie