Regulatory requirements impacting consultant workplans

Consultants have called on the HSE to conduct an analysis of the time they spend engaging in mandatory training and regulatory requirements.

At the IMO AGM in April, a motion was passed by the national consultant committee calling for an analysis to ensure this time “is factored into consultant productivity and workforce management”.

Pressures on consultant rostering and workplans featured prominently during the consultant meeting.

Dr Mick Molloy, Consultant in Emergency Medicine, told the meeting that the amount of mandatory training “is significant” for new doctors.

“They arrive in a hospital and the first thing they are given is this list of mandatory things they have to do… and they are thinking ‘how am I going to do all this?’, especially if they are straight into the emergency department or on-call rota.…”

Speaking to the Medical Independent prior to the consultant meeting, Chair of the IMO consultant committee Prof Matthew Sadlier said there are challenges associated with the volume of online training required of doctors and other staff. These challenges include the impact on overall hospital activity.

He added that doctors support the need for continuing professional development and it can be “one of the more enjoyable parts of the job in many ways”.

“But it’s just as important that rosters take [the amount of time] into consideration,” he said.

Separately, a proposal for a voluntary exit interview for consultants has the potential to “make a difference” in improving recruitment and retention, Prof Sadlier said.

The consultant committee passed a motion calling for such an interview process, with thematic outcomes to be published annually.

Pictured are Consultant Oncologist Dr Raheel Khan and Oncology Advanced Nurse Practitioner Ms Patrice Kearney Sheehan.

In 2022, Dr Khan and Ms Kearney Sheehan established a clinic at Tallaght University Hospital to screen men for potential health complications following a history of testicular cancer. Dr Khan (now at St James’s Hospital) and Ms Kearney Sheehan are among the authors of a new paper in Supportive Care in Cancer, which provides a description of common late side-effects in testicular cancer survivors and a care pathway through a nurse-led specialised clinic