Consultants working in private hospitals are facing increases of 50% to 60% in their negligence insurance from next month.It is feared

It is fearedthat the fee hike represents a threat to the viability their practice, and for services at private hospitals, and will have a knock-on effect on public hospital services.

The Medical Protection Society (MPS), which covers most Irish consultants with private practice, is imposing indemnity cover increases which will bring the cost of insurance for some consultants to well over €100,000 a year. It admits that these fee hikes are threatening the viability of private practice.

The MPS says the increases are unavoidable and are due to the frequency with which private consultants are being sued by patients and the spiralling costs of settling negligence claims.

Consultants now fear the massive increase in negligence cover rates will force some private consultants to give up their practice, and could have a significant effect on the provision of services in private hospitals. With fewer consultants practising privately, this could increase pressure on public hospital services.

Under the MPS fee hikes, an eye surgeon working completely in the private hospital sector who performs refractive laser surgery will in future be charged €97,500 for indemnity insurance.

Consultant orthopaedic surgeons working in the private sector now face annual indemnity cover bills of around €130,000.

The biggest indemnity bills are faced by consultants who work totally in the private sector. Consultants who mainly work in public hospitals and who also have 'off-site' private hospital practice pay smaller indemnity cover amounts, but also face significant fee hikes from the MPS.

In a recent letter to one consultant working in a major private hospital, the MPS said the frequency with which independent (private) consultants in Ireland are being sued and the cost of settling clinical negligence claims are continuing to increase significantly.

"Regrettably, this means that the cost of subscriptions must also increase to reflect the additional risk."

The MPS, in the letter, says it is acutely aware of the 'deteriorating viability' of private medical practice in Ireland and the concern that the fee hikes will cause.

The negligence insurance company says it is continuing to push the Irish government to do something about the spiralling incidence of litigation and cost of settling claims.

It wants the Government to consider ways of reducing the financial impact of negligence risk on clinicians, which would help reduce indemnity subscriptions.

The MPS also wants a full and frank frank review' of the wider system in which clinical negligence claims are managed and the 'introduction of predictability, discipline and transparency' to the legal process by establishing 'pre-action protocols' in negligence claims with appropriate financial penalties for non-compliance.

It says significant law reform is needed to ease the negligence claims crisis.

A recent working group chaired by a high court judge, Mary Irvine, drew up proposals for pre-action protocols and other initiatives to reduce delays and costs in negligence cases.

These protocols would allow both sides in a negligence cases to set out their cases openly and transparently at an early stage of the process so that they can identify and focus on key issues.

The working group has also submitted an additional report on proposed Rules of Court for more intensive case management of medical negligence cases, including a requirement for the exchange of information within defined time periods, as applies in the commercial court, to reduce delays and costs.

The Department of Health told irishhealth.com that it had been informed of the MPS membership subscription increases.

A spokesman said the Department was undertaking a comprehensive assessment of the situation.

"In this regard, the Department of has had discussions with the MPS and the Irish Hospital Consultants Associaiton (IHCA)."

The IHCA says MPS insurance increases means that some consultant private practices will become financially unviable and the significant rise in indemnity charges will increase the cost of providing care to patients.

"It is also expected that this will result in a growing number of patients seeking care in public hospitals at a time when these hospitals do not have the capacity to treat more patients due to a lack of frontline resources and an insufficient number of consultants."

The consultants associaiton says it wants Ireland needs to follow the lead of other jurisdictions by implementing specific reforms that will substantially reduce the cost of clinical indemnification and improve the capacity to provide care for patients.