The General Medical Council’s State of Medical Education and Practice 2017 report has been published today.
Commenting, Dr Pallavi Bradshaw, Senior Medicolegal Adviser at the Medical Protection Society, said:
“This report shows that the vast majority of GMC investigations are closed without action, the end result being that over a thousand doctors go through a needless, stressful and slow process each year, while many complainants also end up disappointed with the outcome.
While some improvements have been made in this area, the GMC must continue to improve the complaints triage process as a priority to avoid unnecessary investigations.
“More fundamentally, the Medical Act needs to be reformed so the GMC are given more discretion to not take forward investigations in cases where the allegations clearly do not require action. Its current powers were framed over 30 years ago – when a very small number of complaints were received and the GMC could investigate each and every one. The GMC now receives over 8,000 complaints a year but very few of these come close to the threshold of serious concern that the GMC was set up to address.
“The Government’s current consultation on health regulation reform offers the perfect opportunity to address the issue of why so many cases are able to proceed to a full investigation. We hope it results in reforms that create a fairer and more proportionate system that patients, healthcare professionals and the Government can have confidence in.”
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Notes to editors
The Medical Act 1983, 35C (4) states that ‘the Investigation Committee shall investigate the allegation and decide whether it should be considered by a Fitness to Practise Panel’.
MPS feels this should be amended to allow the GMC more discretion over which allegations require an investigation.
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