FTP Committee hears 28 cases in 2009

The Medical Council’s Fitness to Practise (FTP) Committee heard 28 cases over 42 hearing days last year, new figures reveal.
During the course of 2009, inquiries were heard in accordance with the provisions of both Part V of the Medical Practitioners Act, 1978 and Part 8 of the Medical Practitioners Act, 2007. Ten inquiries were completed under 1978 Act, with a further 15 completed under the 2007 legislation — each with an allocation of 21 inquiry days.

The Council imposed sanction arising from inquiries in relation to 15 cases, five under the Medical Practitioners Act, 1978 and ten under the 2007 Act.
Under the old legislation, three of the five sanctions involved either advise, admonishment or censure. Just one involved erasure from the register, with a further case seeing conditions placed on the doctor’s practice.
When governed by the new Act, four of the ten sanctions imposed in 2009 involved either advise, admonishment or censure. A further four saw conditions placed on the doctor’s practice, with two cases involving the cancellation of registration.
Last year, 295 complaints were received by Council and consider by its Preliminary Proceedings Committee. More than two-thirds of these cases related to either the professional standards of doctors or treatment issue.
In total, 238 decisions were made by the Committee in 2009, although this included cases carried over from previous years.
Almost half of the complaints made last year (140) were carried over into 2010, while 31 inquiries were held – or 13 per cent of the total case. This is an increase on previous years, when just 29 (2008) and 27 (2007) prima facia decisions were made.
Meanwhile, a consultant gynaecologist who worked at the Galway Clinic, Doughiska, has been found guilty of professional misconduct and is to be suspended from the register for one year, following a FTP inquiry.
Dr Andrea Hermann was brought before the Council over the care she provided to seven patients at the hospital between February 2005 and November 2008.
The Council is understood to have also attached conditions to her name on the register, which will apply immediately upon the period of suspension expiring.