First step to new tribunal service

The hunt is on for an independent chair to lead a new tribunal service that will run the hearings for doctors facing allegations about their fitness to practise.

The successful candidate is expected to be a lawyer with significant judicial experience.

The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) is part of the GMC’s wider fitness to practise reforms. It will be operationally separate from the rest of the GMC and the Chair will  report direct to the GMC’s Council and to Parliament.

The new service will mark a clear separation of the GMC’s role in investigating complaints about doctors and presenting cases from the running of the hearings that determine whether the allegations are proven.

Once appointed, the Chair of the MPTS will take the lead in establishing and developing the service.

‘For doctors and patients to have confidence that decisions about doctors’ fitness to practise are evidence based, fair and proportionate, the hearings must not only be independent and impartial but must be seen to be so,’ said Niall Dickson, the GMC’s Chief Executive.

The recruitment is being handled by an independent executive search agency and the interview panel will be chaired by former the Chief Medical Officer of Scotland and England, Professor Sir Kenneth Calman.

Applications close on 14 October and it is expected that the new Chair will be announced by the end of the year.

Find out more

You can find out more about the role of the Chair of the MPTS by reading the advert and candidate brief on Odgers Berndstron’s web pages.

You can find out more about the MPTS and why it is being established in our response to our consultation Summary of responses to our consultation: the future of adjudication and the establishment of the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (pdf).