OHPA and the future of adjudication

From April 2011, responsibility for running Fitness to Practise hearings involving doctors will transfer from the GMC to a new, independent body called the Office of Health Professions Adjudicator (OHPA).

OHPA is being created to ensure clear separation between the investigation of Fitness to Practise cases and the process of determining whether a doctor's Fitness to Practise is impaired (adjudication).

To start with, only cases brought before it by the General Medical Council and, at a later date, the General Optical Council will be heard by OHPA.  Over time, other regulators may transfer their adjudication function to the new body.

Through the introduction of independed adjudication, patients, the public and health professionals will have increased confidence that decisions are about health professionals are impartial, consistent, transparent and separate from the regulators, the professions and Government.

The GMC will remain the regulator for doctors, and will continue to exercise the following functions in relation to Fitness to Practise:

• Setting the standards for professional practice for doctors
• Receiving and investigating allegations about the fitness to practise of doctors
• Deciding whether to refer doctors to a Fitness to Practise Panel
• Setting guidance on Fitness to Practise sanctions.

The GMC is working closely with the Department of Health (England) to establish OHPA and ensure the smooth transition of our adjudication function to the new body.

Further information

OHPA Website - www.ohpa.org.uk

Read the GMCtoday interview with the Chair of OHPA, Walter Merricks (November 2009)