{"id":797,"date":"2021-04-07T13:45:30","date_gmt":"2021-04-07T12:45:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/dauk-in-pulse-call-for-more-urgent-law-change-as-gmc-appeals-14-further-ftp-decisions\/"},"modified":"2021-04-07T13:45:30","modified_gmt":"2021-04-07T12:45:30","slug":"dauk-in-pulse-call-for-more-urgent-law-change-as-gmc-appeals-14-further-ftp-decisions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/dauk-in-pulse-call-for-more-urgent-law-change-as-gmc-appeals-14-further-ftp-decisions\/","title":{"rendered":"DAUK in Pulse: “Call for more urgent law change as GMC appeals 14 further FTP decisions”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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A coalition of medical organisations is calling for the GMC to swiftly be stripped of its powers to appeal fitness-to-practise tribunal decisions, as an FOI revealed this has happened in a further 14 cases since the Bawa-Garba fallout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It comes as GPs were last month given 12 weeks to respond to plans for sweeping GMC reforms<\/a>, including quashing the GMC\u2019s powers of appeal. Under those plans, the law may be changed by spring 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But a letter<\/a> to health secretary Matt Hancock, signed by \u2018coalition\u2019 of 13 medical organisations including the Medical Protection Society (MPS), BMA, RCGP and Doctors\u2019 Association UK (DAUK), called for this legal change to instead be included in the forthcoming Health and Social Care Bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bill is also due to start being implemented from 2022<\/a>, but an MPS spokesperson told Pulse that this route would give greater certainty that the changes will actually take place, as well as likely being much quicker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reforms to professional regulation are often delayed and there are limits on how much reform can be introduced via secondary legislation \u2013 the proposed mechanism for the GMC reforms \u2013 while the Bill could complete its passage through Parliament by the middle of 2022, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any legislative change would deliver on a Government commitment made in 2018, when the Williams review into gross negligence manslaughter in healthcare following the case of Dr Hadiza Bawa-Garba recommended that the GMC should lose the right. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the Government accepted the review\u2019s recommendations \u2018in full\u2019, relevant legislative changes have yet to be made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The MPS revealed that the GMC has challenged \u2018at least\u2019 14 MPTS decision since the start of 2018, according to data obtained through an FOI request. This comes after Pulse exclusively revealed in March 2018<\/a> that the GMC had launched appeals against its own tribunal 23 times in the 10 months since gaining the right to do so in 2017 \u2013 with seven doctors struck off as a result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MPS president Professor Dame Jane Dacre, who coordinated the letter, welcomed renewed Government commitment that the GMC should be stripped of the power but argued the move \u2018should not be held up while a wide range of other complex proposals go through a round of further consultation\u2019, almost three years after the original commitment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professor Dacre said: \u2018The strength of feeling on this issue from right across the healthcare community is clear to see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018The GMC\u2019s power to appeal decisions made by the MPTS has led to fear across the medical profession and a lack of confidence in the GMC. Implementing this change as part of the forthcoming Health and Social Care Bill would give the profession confidence that their concerns and the recommendations of the Williams review are now being acted on.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The powers are \u2018unnecessary\u2019 as the Professional Standards Authority (PSA) also has the authority to appeal MPTS decisions\u2019, while the GMC is \u2018the only UK health regulator\u2019 to have such a right, she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She concluded: \u2018There has never been a more important time to address this shortcoming.  Covid-19 has sparked discussion about the extent to which individuals should be held to account when working in pressurised and extreme circumstances, and now more than ever, the regulator needs to be able to operate in a way that instils confidence amongst patients and doctors.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Commons health select committee chair Jeremy Hunt this morning Tweeted his endorsement of the call for the \u2018vital change\u2019, saying it should be \u2018actioned ASAP\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018[The] Bawa-Garba ruling had a chilling effect\u00a0 & undermined efforts to create a learning rather than blame culture\u2019, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last month, the Government published its plans to update legislation to enable swifter resolution of fitness-to-practise investigations<\/a>, as well as quashing the GMC\u2019s powers to appeal FTP decisions \u2013 which it has had since 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A number of the proposed changes come in the wake of the high-profile case involving Dr Hadiza Bawa-Garba<\/a>, which led to a review into FTP proceedings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2018, the GMC said it would not halt appeals against FTP decisions until the law is changed<\/a>, claiming it has a \u2018statutory duty\u2019 to do so<\/a> in the meantime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And a 2019 review found that the regulator should acknowledge its relationship with doctors has been \u2018severely damaged\u2019 from the Bawa-Garba case<\/a> and that it \u2018must learn\u2019 from it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read the article here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A coalition of medical organisations is calling for the GMC to swiftly be stripped of its powers to appeal fitness-to-practise tribunal decisions, as an FOI…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[310],"tags":[38,435,116,504,501,337,502,33,153,322,42],"class_list":["post-797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dauk","tag-dauk-news","tag-gmc","tag-gmc-reforms","tag-joint-letter","tag-letter","tag-mps","tag-press","tag-pulse","tag-pulse-today","tag-the-doctors-association-uk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=797"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}