Our Fitness to Practise Equality and Diversity Plan

The work to ensure our procedures are fair and free from discrimination is managed through our Equality and Diversity Action Plan.

Since we developed the plan in 2010, we have carried out equality and diversity impact assessments. The plan includes the launch of a pilot of emotional support for doctors going through the fitness to practise process (the Doctors Support Scheme) and a bespoke training programme for anyone involved in the doctor and complainant pilot meetings relating to cultural awareness and unconscious bias.

In 2012, we propose to prioritise four areas.

• Research on consistency and fairness in our FTP procedures.
• A survey of doctors about their general perceptions and personal experience of our FTP procedures.
• Evaluation of our support services for doctors and witnesses.
• Work to understand the impact of our FTP reforms on different groups of doctors, complainants and witnesses.

In the future, we hope to improve the equality and diversity information we routinely collect about doctors, witnesses and complainants. The collection of better data will help strengthen our evidence base.