The Medical Council received 308 complaints about doctors in 2014.

The Medical Council is the regulatory body for doctors working in Ireland. It maintains the register of all doctors who are legally permitted to work here and sets the standards for medical education and training. It is also where members of the public may make a complaint against a doctor.

According to the council's 2014 Annual Report, there were 19,049 doctors registered at the end of last year, which is the highest number in a decade and marks an increase of 889 when compared with 2013.

During the year, around 1,800 doctors registered with the Medical Council for the first time, while 900 left the register.

The council received 308 complaints involving 366 doctors in 2014. While this represents a fall on the previous year's figure of 400 complaints, the number of reports relating to failures in ‘treating patients with dignity' doubled in 2014, to 65.

"In light of recent adverse events within the health system, I am reiterating once again to the profession the importance of placing the patient at the centre of all important healthcare decisions, and making sure patients are treated as we would wish to be ourselves.

"Hospitals and individual doctors must focus on continuous improvement in the interests of their patients, acting on outcome data to look at how well they are working and areas where they can improve," commented Medical Council president, Prof Freddie Wood.

The report also revealed that fewer Medical Council inquiries were held in public in 2014. Last year, around one in five inquiries were held in public compared to almost two in three in 2013.

The council said that an inquiry can only be held in private if a doctor, complainant or witness requests this.

Meanwhile, the report also contained details of the first survey of all trainee doctors in the country. The third report from this survey, which focuses on career intentions and emigration, is due to be published this summer.

Data from this suggests that only 54% of trainees intend to stay practicing medicine in Ireland for the foreseeable future. Some 21% do not intend to stay here, while the rest are undecided.

The most likely destination for trainees was found to be the UK, followed by Canada, Australia and the US.

"While it's positive for the health system that the number of doctors on the register has increased, the focus needs to be on retaining these doctors and making Ireland a desirable place to work. Our council will continue to work with educators and the wider health system to look at why so many doctors are planning to leave and how we can curtail this trend," commented Medical Council CEO, Caroline Spillane.