{"id":642870,"date":"2026-10-02T17:58:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T17:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/642870\/"},"modified":"2026-10-02T17:58:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T17:58:08","slug":"complaints-about-doctors-to-the-medical-council-were-up-12-in-2025-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/642870\/","title":{"rendered":"Complaints about doctors to the Medical Council were up 12% in 2025 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">There was a 12 per cent increase in the number of complaints made about doctors to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/medical-council\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/medical-council\/\">Medical Council<\/a> last year, its annual report shows.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The Medical Council on Friday published its 2025 annual report, which showed 409 complaints were received last year, up from 364 a year earlier.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Of those, 332 were from the public, 45 were from within the Medical Council and 11 were from a healthcare institution.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The Preliminary Proceedings Committee made decisions in respect of 387 doctors, with 301 cases resulting in no further action following investigation and 86 cases referred onwards to fitness-to-practise.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The council also completed 71 fitness-to-practise cases, a 65 per cent increase on 2024.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Of the 409 complaints, 133 were communication-related, with the council advising the public to resolve these issues \u201clocally\u201d to ensure patient-safety concerns are the focus of the fitness-to-practise process.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Communication-related issues were the most common concerns raised about doctors with the Medical Council in 2025, the council said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cWhile recognising the significant impact communication issues can have on patients and families, the Medical Council advises that concerns of this nature can often be addressed more quickly and effectively by talking to the doctor directly, writing to a GP practice, or via patient advocacy processes within hospitals, healthcare providers and employers,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">President of the Medical Council, Prof Deirdre Murphy, said public confidence in the profession depends on people receiving safe, professional and respectful care.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cThe doctor-patient relationship is founded on trust, and trust begins with communication. Clear, compassionate conversations help patients feel heard and understood and form the basis of shared decision-making,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cThe work of the Medical Council plays an important role in maintaining trust, through setting standards, overseeing medical education and training, supporting doctors\u2019 ongoing professional development and taking action where serious concerns arise.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Dr Maria O\u2019Kane, chief executive of the Medical Council, said there has been \u201csignificant progress\u201d across the organisation, including in complaint handling.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cThe legislative reforms introduced in 2025 have enabled a more proportionate approach to handling complaints and concerns,\u201d she said. \u201cThis means concerns can be directed to the most appropriate pathway, while allowing the Council to focus its efforts on matters that require regulatory intervention.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There was a 12 per cent increase in the number of complaints made about doctors to the Medical&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":642871,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[103,397,396,61,60,37636],"class_list":["post-642870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-medical-council"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=642870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/642871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=642870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=642870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=642870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}