Regulatory Reform Set To Impact On Every Doctor, UK

Main Category: Primary Care / General Practice
Article Date: 21 Nov 2007 - 3:00 PDT

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Controversial government plans to tighten the regulation of doctors were introduced in parliament. Proposals in the Health and Social Care Bill will have a major impact on every doctor practising in the UK.

As the leading organisation providing advice and representation to healthcare practitioners on professional disciplinary matters, the Medical Protection Society (MPS) has amassed a huge amount of experience in the way that doctors are held to account. In 2006 MPS assisted doctors in 462 GMC investigations and 667 investigations in 2005.

Key provisions in the Health and Social Care Bill to strengthen clinical governance and to ensure doctors are more accountable include:

- Requiring the General Medical Council (GMC) and other professional regulators to use civil standard of proof when disciplining professionals.

- Healthcare organisations will be obliged to appoint a "responsible officer" to oversee the conduct and performance of doctors.

- Creating an independent adjudicator to take decisions about whether doctors should remain in practice.

- Establishing the Care Quality Commission to oversee health and adult social care in England. It will be equipped with new powers to inspect and intervene where hospitals fail to meet safety and quality standards.

Commenting on the Health and Social Care Bill, Dr Stephanie Bown, director of policy and communications, said:

"We call on parliament to halt plans to introduce civil standard of proof at fitness to practise hearings. There is a very real risk that reducing the standard of proof will further undermine the confidence of doctors at a time when there are sweeping changes to healthcare delivery requiring the full engagement of the profession."

"While we support the emphasis on the effective local resolution of problems, we have serious concerns about the proposals to make every doctor accountable to a 'responsible officer'. We have seen a real variation in the quality and fairness of existing local disciplinary procedures. Doctors under local investigation frequently feel that there is a background agenda of interpersonal disputes, politics and power struggles."

"It is essential that the new regulatory procedures are underpinned by fairness, accountability and consistency in order to command the confidence of the both the public and the profession."

http://www.medicalprotection.org

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