Supporting doctors during the pandemic

Our health services continue to face extreme pressures as we enter a new year and we’re doing all we can to support doctors and the health system during the pandemic.

One of the changes we’ve recently made is to update the guidance our decision makers use when they are assessing individual fitness to practise cases. This means the context of the pandemic is taken into account and decisions are fair and proportionate to the circumstances.

The guidance includes new advice to reflect the sustained nature of the pandemic and the enhanced impact this can have on issues like fatigue, the availability of resources and workforce shortages.

Before Christmas our acting Chair, Professor Dame Carrie MacEwen wrote to all registered doctors in the UK, to remind colleagues that if a concern is raised about their practice, we’ll always take the context into account. We also reiterated our joint statement with the other regulators of health and social care professionals, about how we’ll regulate in light of the ongoing pandemic and pressure in the system.