Healthcare Ethics Ireland
Blog · Ireland · Medical Council · NMBI · Dental Council · Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland · CORU
Articles
Blog for healthcare professionals in Ireland
Guides on a complaint, an investigation and a fitness to practise inquiry at each Irish regulator, on insight, reflection and remediation, on the types of concern, and on CPD
- Free to read
- Written for your own regulator
- Nothing to sign up for
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These articles explain how regulation works. They are not advice on your own matter. If a complaint has been made about you, speak to your indemnifier, your union or professional body, or a solicitor first.
In short
What the blog covers
Plain-English articles on how the complaint and fitness to practise process works in Ireland, at each of the five regulators and under its own Act: the Medical Council under the Medical Practitioners Act 2007, the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland under the Nurses and Midwives Act 2011, the Dental Council under the Dentists Act 1985, the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland under the Pharmacy Act 2007, and CORU under the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005. They cover what a complaint is and how it is screened, what the Preliminary Proceedings Committee and an inquiry consider, how sanctions are decided and confirmed, and what each regulator’s code asks of you day to day: professional boundaries with a patient or a colleague, dual relationships, social media, consent and chaperones, record keeping and communication, with insight, reflection and remediation running through all of it.
The articles are not legal advice, and nothing here changes what a regulator decides. If a letter has arrived, speak to your indemnifier, your union or professional body, or a solicitor first.
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Questions
Frequently asked questions
Is any of this legal advice?
No. These articles explain how the complaint and fitness to practise process works in Ireland. They are not advice on your matter and cannot be. If a complaint has been made about you, speak to your indemnifier, your union or professional body, or a solicitor before you write anything.
Each Irish regulator publishes its own guidance for professionals who have had a complaint made about them; each profession page on this site links to it.
Where should I start?
If a letter has arrived, start with the fitness to practise process in Ireland, explained, the stages at each of the five regulators, and the free fitness to practise course on what to do when you receive a complaint. Then read the articles for your own profession.
If no concern has been raised and you are adding to your CPD record, start with the articles on types of concern as they are published: professional boundaries with a patient or a colleague, clinical records, prescribing, confidentiality and honesty.
Is my profession covered?
Yes. The articles are written for doctors, nurses and midwives, dentists and dental professionals, pharmacists, and the health and social care professions CORU regulates, with articles on each regulator’s process as they are published. Articles on the process and on types of concern apply to every profession, including those not yet regulated in Ireland.
Use the filter buttons above the list to narrow it.
Do the articles replace the courses?
They do different things. An article explains the process. A course produces a dated, documented record that you engaged seriously with a standard, at a time when you did not yet know the outcome.
Neither decides a complaint or an inquiry, and nothing on this site claims otherwise.
Where the courses fit
Reading is not remediation
Reading an article leaves no record. A course produces a dated, documented one: that before you knew the outcome, you worked through the standard in question. Neither decides your complaint, and we say so on every page.