The human and financial cost

Healthcare professionals and patients involved in claims in Ireland will wait much longer to see the process come to a resolution than in necessary.

Both parties will also be dragged through an unnecessarily long and stressful process, fraught with high legal costs, that will have a significant impact on their mental wellbeing.

Our international experience shows that it does not have to be this way; Ireland is an outlier.

Supported by MPS data and surveys of dentists who have experienced a claim in the past five years, we confirm that claims made in Ireland will take longer to resolve than in any other country where we have members, and far higher legal costs will be incurred.

Over three-quarters of dentists rated their wellbeing as ‘worse’ whilst claims against them were ongoing. 96% of dentists said they were worried about their wellbeing.

 


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The solution

We know the system doesn’t have to work like this. Reforms to legislation and the claims process, as has been carried out in other countries, will minimise the impact of the system on everyone involved.

MPS is proposing the following reforms as a priority:

  • Pursuing the regulation to introduce pre-action protocols
  • The introduction of proactive court-led case management
  • Specialist Courts and judge system



Get involved and support the campaign

Your voice counts and it is crucial that policy makers hear from healthcare and dental professionals.

Will you help us by emailing your local TDs?

You can find the name and contact information for your local representatives on the House of the Oireachtas website. We’ve also written an example email for you to send to your TD to make it as easy as possible for you to get involved; simply click the buttons below and download our email template, before editing your details and adding your TD's name and email address. 

Contact the Policy and Public Affairs team

If you have any questions about this campaign or anything else, the MPS policy and public affairs team is available to contact during usual office hours (8.30am – 5.30pm, Monday to Friday) using the details below.

Megan Ball 
Policy & Public Affairs Manager

Email: [email protected]

Ceylan Simsek Policy & Public Affairs Officer
Email: [email protected]