Many issues currently dealt with by the Medical Council's fitness to practise committee could be handled by a health ombudsman, according to the president of the Medical Council.
Speaking to journalists after a meeting of the council, Prof Gerard Bury said that the committee was going to hold simultaneous hearings of complaints to try to clear the backlog. It is hoped that at least 14 cases can be heard before Christmas.
Asked if the council favoured any procedure whereby cases could be examined before going to a full hearing, he said that the purpose of the fitness to practise committee was to protect the public, and every complaint was given equal weight.
"There is no health ombudsman in this country," he said, adding that this could be a way of dealing with a great number of the complaints which come before the committee.
The council meeting also discussed training, especially the training of interns, speeding up the temporary registration of doctors, and the introduction of an information technology system. July 2000 is the planned date for this to go live, and it is intended that information about registered doctors will be available on the Web.
Prof Bury said that the council did not discuss the Green Paper on abortion. Nor was it discussed at the meeting of its ethics committee, which also took place yesterday.
This committee was expected to discuss it at its next meeting in three months' time, and report to the council.
Asked if the council had asked Ms Justice Laffoy to identify to it the doctor she referred to in the Baby A adoption case earlier this month, he said the council was precluded by legal advice from discussing any individual doctor or complaint. He stressed that at no stage had the council made any statement about this case.