GMC trialling new system to improve how complaints against doctors are investigated

A new system to improve how complaints against doctors are investigated is to be trialled by the General Medical Council (GMC), it was announced today.

This month (September) the GMC will start two pilot schemes as part of its wider fitness to practise reforms. One will involve meetings with doctors who have been subject to an investigation and the other will test meetings with patients and relatives who have raised concerns about doctors.

In the first pilot the GMC will test whether meeting with doctors at the end of an investigation will help protect patients faster by enabling sanctions to be placed on a doctor’s registration without the need for a hearing before a fitness to practise panel.

If the doctor agrees to the outcome of the investigation and the proposed sanction a hearing would not be needed.

In cases where there is a dispute between the GMC and the doctor about the outcome of the investigation or where the doctor does not accept the proposed sanction, the matter would be referred to a public hearing.

Any action taken would still be made public via the GMC’s website and annotated in the doctor’s record in the online medical register.

At this stage the pilot will not extend to more serious cases where the doctor might face suspension or being removed from the register as this would require legislative change.

The pilot is expected to run for up to nine months and will involve at least 80 meetings with doctors. It will be independently evaluated.

In the second pilot, the GMC will test meetings with members of the public when they have raised a concern about a doctor. The aim will be to make sure the GMC can explain the investigation process and that its staff fully understand the issues behind the complaint. A further meeting will take place at the end of the case to explain the outcome.

The pilot will cover meeting with complainants living in the Greater London and North West regions of England and it too will be independently evaluated.

The ideas behind the pilots were part of a public consultation last year in which most respondents supported the proposals.

Niall Dickson, Chief Executive of the GMC, said: ‘We believe these proposed changes could deliver a quicker and less stressful system for dealing with complaints which continues to put patient safety first.

‘We want to reduce the number of hearings and the associated stress on patients and doctors alike. But there will be no cosy deals – the sanctions we propose must protect patients and it is important too that we continue to be open about what we are doing and publish any action we take against a doctor.

‘And for those doctors who do not accept our proposed sanction or do not accept our view of the facts, their cases will still be referred for a public hearing.’