CLAIMS against Irish consultants, based on insurance predictions for 1996, could in the future be made against as many as one in five, according to a medical insurance company.
The Medical Protection Society (MPS) is studying actuarial reports on the trends in medical negligence claims in Ireland at in preparation for setting. The MPS insures about 1,000 of Ireland's 2,500 general practitioners and 800 of its 1,200 consultants. The expected claims against GPs will be considerably less than those against consultants.
"A consultant is, on average, about 10 times more likely to be sued in Ireland than a GP," said
Mr Stephen Grundy, the marketing manager of the MPS.
The rate of claims against Irish GPs was similar to their UK counterparts, though the amount of claims tended to be higher, he said. However, the number of claims against consultants in Ireland was considerably higher than in the UK.
The Medical Defence Union, which insures about 5,000 Irish doctors, agreed. "A doctor in Ireland is two or three times as likely to be sued as his or her UK counterpart," said Dr Catherine James of the MDU.
She said their experience was that Irish consultants were more likely to be named in litigation than they were in Britain, because of the structure of the health service and the higher recourse to private practice in Ireland. "There is state indemnity of hospitals in the UK which covers consultants," she explained.
She added that the international experience was that medical negligence claims were increasing at the rate of about 5 per cent a year, with the cost of claims rising by about 10 per cent a year.
The current rates for an established GP insuring with the MDU are £2,995 a year, with the rates for consultants varying from £15,600 for areas such as orthopaedic surgery to £23,950 for the high-risk area of obstetrics and gynaecology.
In 1992 the Irish Medical Organisation set up Meditech, an insurance company for GPs, which is commercially independent. Mr Jim Glennon of Meditech said that according to actuaries an insurance company needed to be operational for at least five years for reliable patterns to emerge. However, the number of potential claims notified so far was well within the parameters set by their consultants's.
As a result of the advice they obtained before setting up the company they set an annual premium of £1,750 in 1992, which has since risen to £1,900. Meditech has some 600 members, and has no plans to recruit non-GPs.