Medical Council need to clear up online sick certs – Murphy

The Irish Medical Council need to immediately clear up whether it is appropriate for doctors to issue sick certs without speaking directly to the patients involved, a Fine Gael Senator has said.

Senator PJ Murphy said the revelation this week in the Irish Independent that sick certs are being issued from websites for a small fee without any patient consultation “is worrying as it is clearly wide open to abuse”.

“If someone is ill, they are fully entitled to be off absent from work and having supporting certification to show this. That is proper and fair.

“However, the current system operated by some websites – who say their doctors are Irish registered – and are providing sick certs without talking to people who apply, is wide open to abuse,” Senator Murphy said.

The Fine Gael Senator was speaking after his party colleague, Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill responded to the issue in the Dáil and said the Irish Medical Council are there to protect the public and ensure doctors operate to a very high standard.

The Health Minister said the Irish Medical Council need to ‘reflect on’ the issue and the impact it may have on employers and small businesses after it was raised in the Dáil today by Deputy Frank Feighan.

Minister Carroll MacNeill said everyone in Government takes a strong interest in the subject.

Senator Murphy previously raised the matter with the Health Minister.

He said: “We need clear communications from the Irish Medical Council here. This online sick cert system is clearly open to abuse.

“As a regulatory body, the Irish Medical Council is dedicated to guiding doctors in maintaining high standards of professional conduct.

“A publican must ask for ID if he wants to verify someone’s legal age, but a doctor can provide a sick cert without knowing who has applied?

“How can this system be allowed to operate,” the Fine Gael Senator asked.