Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2007

PART 1 Preliminary and General

1. Short title.

1.— This Act may be cited as the Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2007.

2. Definitions.

2.— In this Act—

“ Act of 1961 ” means the Health (Corporate Bodies) Act 1961;

“ Act of 2004 ” means the Health Act 2004;

“ Act of 2007 ” means the Medical Practitioners Act 2007;

“ Minister ” means the Minister for Health and Children.

3. Expenses.

3.— The expenses incurred by the Minister in the administration of this Act shall, to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

4. Repeal.

4.— Section 70 of the Act of 2004 is repealed.

PART 2 Health Corporate Bodies

5. Confirmation of certain orders under section 3 of Act of 1961.

5.— (1) Subject to subsection (6), every order under section 3 of the Act of 1961 made before the passing of this Act shall have statutory effect as if it were an Act of the Oireachtas.

(2) Every act done, or purporting to have been done, by a body established under section 3 of the Act of 1961 under and in accordance with an order made under that section shall be, and be deemed always to have been, valid and effectual for all purposes.

(3) If subsection (1) or (2) would, but for this subsection, conflict with a constitutional right of any person, the operation of that subsection shall be subject to such limitation as is necessary to secure that it does not so conflict but shall otherwise be of full force and effect.

(4) This section shall not operate to prevent the making of an order under section 83 of the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005.

(5) The Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provis-ions) Act 2004 shall, in so far as it applied to an official, servant, employee or member of the staff of a body established under section 3 of the Act of 1961 immediately before the passing of this Act, continue to so apply after the passing of this Act.

(6) This section shall not apply to an order—

(a) that, immediately before the passing of this Act, stood revoked under section 7 of the Act of 1961, or

(b) if, immediately before such passing, the body established by the order stood dissolved under any other enactment.

6. Confirmation of certain acts done by dissolved bodies.

6.— (1) Every act done, or purporting to have been done, by a dissolved body under and in accordance with an order made under section 3 or 3A (inserted by section 75 and Part 3 of Schedule 6 of the Act of 2004) of the Act of 1961 shall be, and be deemed always to have been, valid and effectual for all purposes.

(2) If subsection (1) would, but for this subsection, conflict with a constitutional right of any person, the operation of that subsection shall be subject to such limitation as is necessary to secure that it does not so conflict but shall otherwise be of full force and effect.

(3) In this section “ dissolved body ” means—

(a) a body established under an order that, immediately before the passing of this Act, stood revoked under section 7 of the Act of 1961, or

(b) a body that, immediately before such passing, stood dissolved under any other enactment.

7. Amendment of orders under section 3 of Act of 1961.

7.— The orders referred to in column (1) of Schedule 1 are amended to the extent specified in column (2) of that Schedule.

8. Grants to certain bodies established under section 3 of Act of 1961.

8.— (1) The Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, advance to a body established under section 3 of the Act of 1961, out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas, such sum as the Minister may determine.

(2) This section shall not apply to—

(a) the body established by the National Haemophilia Council (Establishment) Order 2004 (S.I. No. 451 of 2004), or

(b) the body established by the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (Establishment) Order 2007 (S.I. No. 246 of 2007).

9. Amendment of Comptroller and Auditor General (Amendment) Act 1993.

9.— The First Schedule to the Comptroller and Auditor General (Amendment) Act 1993 is amended by the insertion of the following:

“Each body established by an order to which section 5 of the Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2007 applies”.

PART 3 Amendments to Medical Practitioners Act 2007

10. Amendment of section 1 of Act of 2007.

10.— Section 1 of the Act of 2007 is amended by the addition of the following subsection:

“(4) An order under subsection (3) may, in respect of the repeal of the Acts specified in Part 1 of Schedule 1 and the revocation of the statutory instruments specified in Part 2 of that Schedule effected by section 3, appoint different days for the repeal of different Acts or different provisions of them and the revocation of different statutory instruments or different provisions of them.”.

11. Amendment of section 2 of Act of 2007.

11.— Section 2 of the Act of 2007 is amended by—

(a) the substitution of the following definition for the definition of “ registered ”:

“ ‘ registered ’, in relation to a medical practitioner, means registered under section 44, 46, 47, 48, 49 or 50;”,

and

(b) the substitution of the following definition for the definition of “ registered medical practitioner ”:

“ ‘ registered medical practitioner ’—

(a) before the register establishment day, means a medical practitioner whose name is for the time being entered in the General Register of Medical Practitioners, and

(b) on and after the register establishment day, means a medical practitioner whose name is for the time being entered in the register;”.

12. Amendment of section 4 of Act of 2007.

12.— Section 4 of the Act of 2007 is amended—

(a) by the substitution of the following subsections for subsection 1:

“(1) Notwithstanding the repeal of section 6 of the Act of 1978 by section 3, the body known as Comhairle na nDochtúirí Leighis, or in the English language as the Medical Council, established by that section of that Act shall continue in being.

(1A) Subject to subsections (5) to (7), anything commenced but not completed by the Council, or the committee established under section 13(2)(b) of the Act of 1978, before the commencement of this subsection may be carried on and completed by the Council (with its membership as constituted under this Act) or that committee (with its membership as constituted under section 13 of the Act of 1978), as the case requires, after such commencement in accordance with the Acts specified in Part 1 of Schedule 1 and the statutory instruments specified in Part 2 of that Schedule notwithstanding the repeal and revocation of those Acts and those statutory instruments or any provisions of them by section 3.”,

(b) by the substitution of the following subsections for subsection (5):

“(5) A person who is a member of the committee referred to in subsection (1A) but who ceases to be a member of the Council under section 17(9)(b) shall, notwithstanding that cesser of membership of the Council, be deemed for the purposes of subsection (1A) to satisfy the requirements of section 13 of the Act of 1978 relating to the membership of that committee.

(5A) The committee referred to in subsection (1A) shall be deemed, for the purposes of that subsection, to satisfy the requirements of paragraphs (a) and (b) of section 13(6) of the Act of 1978 relating to its membership even if it ceases to satisfy those requirements by reason of the cesser of membership of one or more of its members.”,

and

(c) in subsection (6), by the substitution of “Where pursuant to subsection (1A)” for “Where pursuant to subsection (1)(b)”.

13. Amendment of section 17 of Act of 2007.

13.— Section 17 of the Act of 2007 is amended—

(a) in subsection (8), by the substitution of “Subject to subsection (8A), the 6 registered medical practitioners” for “The 6 registered medical practitioners”,

(b) by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (8):

“(8A) The references in subsection (8) to the Specialist Division shall, for the purposes of the first election and appointment of medical practitioners under subsection (1)(f), be construed as references to the Register of Medical Specialists.”,

(c) in subsection (9), by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (b):

“(b) a person appointed to be a member of the Council pursuant to section 9 of the Act of 1978 shall, subject to that Act, continue to be a member of the Council until the first appointment of persons to be members of the Council pursuant to subsection (1) whereupon the person shall cease to be a member of the Council unless he or she is one of those persons so first appointed.”,

and

(d) by the addition of the following subsection after subsection (9):

“(10) Notwithstanding the appointment of persons to be members of the Council pursuant to this section, the Council may, without prejudice to section 4, perform any function assigned to it by any provision of the Act of 1978 until such provision is repealed.”.

14. Amendment of section 36(1) of Act of 2007.

14.— Section 36(1) of the Act of 2007 is amended by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (b):

“(b) the annual retention of the registration under section 44, 46, 47, 48 or 49, of a medical practitioner,”.

15. Amendment of section 43(2) of Act of 2007.

15.— Section 43(2) of the Act of 2007 is amended—

(a) in paragraph (a), by the substitution of “registered in that division pursuant to section 44 or 46” for “registered in that division pursuant to section 46”,

(b) in paragraph (b), by the substitution of “registered in that division pursuant to section 44 or 47” for “registered in that division pursuant to section 47”,

(c) in paragraph (c), by the substitution of “registered in that division pursuant to section 44, 48 or 49” for “registered in that division pursuant to section 48 or 49”, and

(d) in paragraph (d), by the substitution of “registered in that division pursuant to section 44 or 50” for “registered in that division pursuant to section 50”.

16. Amendment of section 44 of Act of 2007.

16.— Section 44 of the Act of 2007 is amended—

(a) by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (1):

“(1) A medical practitioner whose name is, immediately before the register establishment day, entered in the General Register of Medical Practitioners shall, on that day, be deemed to be registered in the register.”,

and

(b) in subsection (2), by the substitution of “the repeal of each of those sections by section 3” for “the commencement of section 3”.

17. Amendment of section 52(3) of Act of 2007.

17.— Section 52(3) of the Act of 2007 is amended by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (a);

“(a) the practitioner is the subject of—

(i) an application for an inquiry under section 45 of the Act of 1978 which has not been considered or, if appropriate, an inquiry has not been completed under Part V of that Act, or

(ii) a complaint which has not been disposed of or otherwise dealt with under Part 7 and, if appropriate, Parts 8 and 9, or”.

18. Amendment of section 59 of Act of 2007.

18.— Section 59 of the Act of 2007 is amended by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (1):

“(1A) The Preliminary Proceedings Committee may, for the purposes of considering whether there is sufficient cause to warrant further action being taken in relation to a complaint, take account of such matters relating to the registered medical practitioner the subject of the complaint that arise from its investigation of the complaint as it considers appropriate and references to a complaint in this section (other than subsection (10)), in the definitions of ‘allegation’ and ‘inquiry’ in section 2 and in sections 7(2)(j), 11(2)(g), 20(2), 52(3)(a), 60 to 65, 67 to 71 and 79(2) shall be construed as including references to any such matter.”.

19. Amendment of Schedule 2 to Act of 2007.

19.— Schedule 2 to the Act of 2007 is amended by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph 2:

“2. No person shall hold office as a member of the Council for more than 2 consecutive terms irrespective of the period of each of those terms (for which purpose membership of the Council which occurred before the commencement of this paragraph shall be taken into account).”.

20. Consequential amendments of Act of 2007.

20.— Each section of the Act of 2007 mentioned in column (1) of Schedule 2 is amended to the extent specified in column (2) of that Schedule opposite the said mention.

PART 4 Amendment to Health Act 2004

21. Amendment of section 38 of Act of 2004.

21.— Section 38 of the Act of 2004 is amended by—

(a) the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (4):

“(4) The expenses incurred in the carrying out of an audit of accounts submitted for examination in accordance with subsection (3) shall be payable by the service provider who so submitted them for examination.”,

(b) the renumbering of subsection (4) (inserted by section 105 and Part 4 of Schedule 2 of the Health Act 2007) as subsection (4A),

(c) the renumbering of subsection (5) (inserted by the said section 105 and the said Part 4) as subsection (4B), and

(d) the substitution in the said subsection (4B) of “subsection (4A)” for “subsection (4)”.

SCHEDULE 1 Amendment of Orders Under Health (Corporate Bodies) Act 1961