Juggling responsibility

Responsible officer regulations require robust debate

MPS has concerns over the ways in which the Department of Health (DH) plans to implement the new role of responsible officer – despite the objectives of the role appearing to promise genuine improvements in standards and quality of care. Widely believed to be integral to the improvements in care described in Lord Darzi’s High Quality Care for All, the role of the responsible officer is also intended to strengthen local clinical governance and rovide a more effective link between the GMC and local healthcare organisations. It is also geared to safeguard the effectiveness of the revalidation process.

MPS’s concerns centre around the breadth of the role, as it has been outlined in draft regulations. The job clearly requires people of exceptional skills and competencies.

It is anticipated that many medical directors will fill the role. If this does indeed come to pass, then this will be a significant extension to medical directors’ jobs – not only in terms of responsibility, but also in terms of powers and workload. The extra duties are likely to be onerous and many qualified, senior doctors may simply be unwilling or unable to take these on. It is also difficult to see how the DH has anticipated the scale of funding and training that the new role will require.

Funding is also a concern when it comes to the fact that certain medical practitioners will have to fund their own responsible officer. With self-employed doctors facing a particularly strong effect from this, perhaps the best solution is to fund responsible officers from a central fund.

It is understood that the draft Medical Profession (Responsible Officers) Regulations 2010 will be laid before Parliament in January – hopefully, the matter will be subject to robust debate in both Houses.

Responsible Officers will be senior doctors with local responsibility for overseeing the revalidation process and handling complaints against doctors. They will be required to evaluate doctors’ fitness to practise by:

• ensuring that regular appraisals are carried out
• developing procedures to address any concerns about doctors’ fitness to practise, and
• reporting concerns to the General Medical Council where appropriate.

The draft regulations can be found here.