The Government has given an indication that it may review whether doctors who are involved in fitness-to-practise hearings should be publicly identified as at present.
A Department of Health spokesman said Minister for Health Leo Varadkar had put two proposals to Medical Council chairman Freddie Wood regarding the current complaint system.
The spokesman said no formal decision had been taken.
“The first proposal is to get his views on whether it would be a good idea to conduct a survey of doctors who have been subject to complaints which are now closed, in order to get . . . their suggestions on how it might be done better.
“The second concerns a proposal that the fitness-to- practice committee would have an option to prevent patients or doctors from being named while a hearing is ongoing due to the distress and embarrassment it can cause.”
The spokesman said that “the core issue is the need to balance private reputations against the public interest”. MARTIN WALL
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