What happens next?

Who makes Rule 12 decisions?

Rule 12 decisions are made by assistant registrars, who are senior members of GMC staff with delegated authority from the registrar (the Chief Executive of the GMC). The assistant registrar who makes the Rule 12 decision will not be the same person that made the original decision. 

Initial consideration

An assistant registrar will consider the request to see if there is a potential significant error (or a ‘material flaw’) in the original decision and/or any new information that may have changed the decision. They will then decide if it is in the public interest to review the decision. 

We can usually only commence a review of a decision within two years of the original decision being made, unless there are exceptional circumstances.  

Assistant registrars will refer to fitness to practice decision makers guidance when considering these requests. 

Review

If, based on the information available to us, we decide that there are grounds for a review, we will seek comments from the requestor and the doctor. We won’t normally carry out any further investigation at this stage. 

Reopen

Once we’ve received any comments, we will consider the decision again. If we decide that a new or further investigation is needed, the complaint will be reopened and referred back to our investigations team. They would then be in touch to discuss next steps. 

If we decide that we are unable to reopen the complaint, we will tell you why.