Harney gives guarantee in bid to end indemnity row

Malpractice: The Minister for Health is set to give a written guarantee that no patient will be denied compensation and no doctor will be financially exposed as a result of a row between the Government and a UK-based indemnity organisation over medical malpractice insurance.

A spokesman for the Tánaiste, Ms Harney told The Irish Times yesterday she would be providing written assurances on these issues to the Irish Hospital Consultants’ Association (IHCA) in the near future. She had given verbal assurances some weeks ago but the consultants demanded these be provided in writing.

The IHCA said last night that if the guarantee was satisfactory, it could lead to the association dropping its boycott of talks on the implementation of key healthcare reforms. For the past several months, consultants have been refusing to participate in talks on implementation of the controversial Hanly report on hospital reforms or on plans for a phased introduction of a 48-hour week for non-consultant doctors.

The IHCA said its members would not take part in these talks or engage in negotiations on a new working contract with the Department of Health until the row over malpractice indemnity between the Government and the UK-based Medical Defence Union (MDU) was sorted out.

The dispute is over who should pay for historic liabilities arising from medical negligence actions against consultant obstetricians dating back to before the introduction of a State indemnity scheme for senior hospital doctors earlier this year.

Department of Health actuaries estimated in a report to Government that the bills for these historic liabilities could reach Eur400 million. In recent months the MDU has declined to provide cover for a number of consultant obstetricians who are being sued by former patients.

The MDU maintains it did not charge sufficient subscription rates for obstetricians in the past and, following the introduction of the Government’s clinical indemnity scheme, outstanding historic bills should be met by the State.

The Department has argued that the MDU received tens of millions of euro in subscriptions from Irish doctors over decades, the bulk of this subsidised by the taxpayer, and that the MDU cannot just walk away from its responsibilities. The IHCA has argued that if doctors, who had paid the appropriate subscription for years,  subsequently had to go to court without indemnity, they  could face financial ruin.

IHCA secretary general Mr Finbarr  Fitzpatrick said last night the promised written guarantee, if satisfactory,
could break the deadlock. He warned, however, there had been false dawns before and the deal could collapse if there were too many strings attached to the assurances.

The Department of Health had sought a date for conclusion of talks on a new contract as a precondition for such guarantees.

Ironically, the possible breakthrough to one row over consultants’ insurance comes as a doctor at St James’s Hospital, Dublin may face the prospect of High Court litigation this week without indemnity as a result of a separate dispute between the Government and the MDU.