GMC consultation: ‘Proposed changes to our records retention policy’

19 Jul 2012

The GMC has been consulting on proposed changes to how long they keep certain kinds of information.

Proposed changes:

To retain a full registration application record for either:
- 70 years from the date of registration, or
- indefinitely.
To retain rejected applications for 40 years
To retain information on erasures indefinitely
To retain notifications from third parties (eg. the police or overseas regulators) for 40 years
To keep fitness to practise records relating to a case for between four and ten years depending on which stage it reaches
Develop summary records of transactions which would be kept indefinitely

Our response:

We agree with the proposal to develop summary care records but think registrants should be able to comment on their accuracy.
We do not agree that information about applications for registration should be kept indefinitely
We have suggested shorter retention periods (three to five years) for fitness to practice records which we think are more proportionate.