By Lloyd Mudiwa.
The Medical Council informed HIQA in its submission on the draft patient safety standards that it could not uniformly assess the English language or clinical skills of all doctors, and thus it was imperative that employers appropriately assess doctors before allowing them to treat patients.
In its submission made in 2010 to HIQA’s public consultation, the regulatory body sought the co-operation of healthcare institutions to ensure all doctors were appropriately registered prior to practising.
Kingram House also said the criteria for the Standards for Workforce in the guidelines should make specific reference to applicable guides as to conduct and ethical behaviour for relevant professional staff, including the Medical Council’s own Guide to Professional Conduct and Ethics for Registered Medical Practitioners.
Service providers should recruit people with the required competencies to provide high-quality and safe care, it stressed.
lloyd.mudiwa@imt.ie
