Life has moved on for the IMO, but Dr Muiris Houston believes the issues raised by the McNeice controversy remain as pertinent as ever for the doctors’ union.

The State Claims Agency (SCA), which operates the Clinical Indemnity Scheme, paid more than €10 million in 1,300-plus payments to solicitors and barristers for handling legal work associated with clinical negligence claims in the second half of last year alone, IMT has established.

There were 13 vacant GP medical card lists around the country in February, compared to 20 last November.

Some 5,680 referrals were managed successfully through the National Outpatient Parenteral Antimicrobial Therapy (OPAT) Service in the first 33 months of the programme, which has delivered significant savings in bed days for the HSE by treating patients receiving intravenous (IV) antimicrobials in a non-hospital setting.

The HSE has introduced stiffer English language proficiency requirements for all Interns and NCHDs because “the ability to communicate clearly with patients and colleagues is a key requirement for all healthcare professionals”.

The President of the IMO has acknowledged that the union has a ‘vested interest’ in battling for a well resourced public health system, and that it is “unashamed in continuing the fight”.

Some hospitals have told consultants that they have not been budgeted to pay for the new pay scales and cannot switch consultants to those scales until 2016.

The IMO wants to see the new role of physician associate (PA) implemented as proposed and not “significantly expanded” until all of the elements of the new post have been examined.

The Department of Health (DoH) has been urged to follow up with action its consideration of the need for a new contract for public health doctors (PHDs) that recognises their consultant status, in order to make it an attractive career choice for doctors.

Continuity of care with a specific GP brings clear benefits in terms of patient morbidity and mortality, and the IMO will be urged at its forthcoming AGM to oppose any transfer of care or introduction of future care models that disrupts this model.