A Medical Council pilot-scheme designed to improve the service performance of Irish doctors has begun today.
The quality-improvement peer review scheme, developed by the Irish Medical Council and the Irish College of General Practitioners, will see GPs complete an online self-assessment questionnaire modelled on a similar quality improvement initiative in operation in Canada for the last seven years.
Patients will also be invited to participate, with 25 people asked to fill out a ten-minute anonymous and confidential questionnaire covering areas such as personality, communication skills, the surgery, staff and level of care received.
Dr Colm Quigley, vice-president of the Medical Council, said such review schemes are already in place in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and Canada, adding: "The competence doctors will show in this will give the profession confidence after a difficult period and will increase public trust".
Dr Lynda Sisson, Director of Competence Assurance at the Medical Council echoed this view and told ireland.com: "the Medical Council has been talking about confidence assurance for five years now. This is the first time it is in place".
Dr Sisson said she was confident the Council would have 400 volunteer GP assessments returned by Autumn this year.
She cited the Lourdes Hospital inquiry of Dr Michael Neary - struck off in 2003 after a fitness to practise inquiry found him guilty of unnecessarily removing the wombs of 10 women at the hospital - as responsible for raising awareness.
Dr Muiris Houston, medical correspondent of The Irish Times, said the pilot scheme was an excellent idea and agreed it was important for the profession and the public.
He told ireland.com: "Obviously, the medical profession is somewhat under scrutiny of late following the Lourdes inquiry and the Dr Neary case, so it important to absolutely show through processes like this that the vast majority of practitioners are competent."
"This is the first step," he said.