The programme of inspections of Accident and Emergency (A&E) departments in hospitals, which led to the reduction in services at Monaghan hospital, is to continue this year.
The inspections are carried out by the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) after new guidelines for accreditation for training of junior doctors were introduced last year. They specify there must be an A&E consultant to train junior doctors in emergency departments.
The consultant has to be present for eight out of 11 sessions for the department to reach accreditation for junior doctors.
Prof Arthur Tanner, of the RCSI, said they started a five-year cycle of inspections, beginning last year.
This year he would expect five or six A&E units to be inspected. "We flagged this was going to be law last year but only now is it beginning to bite."
If the RCSI removed accreditation for training from an A&E unit, the hospital could no longer employ junior doctors in these posts. To date, eight hospitals had been inspected. "We're just a training body and the Medical Council will not allow unsupervised trainees into non-training departments," said Prof Tanner.