Blog
Sanctions Guidance is not a score sheet – Court of Appeal findings from GMC v Gilbert & PSA
Jessica Etherington
19 January 2015
Case Update: NMC’s failure to draft charges that sufficiently reflect the gravity of Registrant’s conduct led to serious procedural irregularity
Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (PSA) v Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), Duncan Gerald Macleod, [2014] EWHC 4354 (Admin).
On 22 April 2011 the Registrant witnessed Nurse X goading a vulnerable mental health patient, Patient A. He then saw Nurse X place Patient A in a headlock in contravention of appropriate restraint procedures. As a result of Nurse X’s actions, Patient A struck Nurse X with a hairbrush and caused a laceration above Nurse X’s eye. Nurse X went to Accident and Emergency for treatment and on her return completed a Serious Incident Report (SIR) in respect of Patient A’s assault on her.
5 January 2015
Bullying and undermining are too common in medical training, according to the General Medical Council
The GMC uses national training surveys to capture data and ensure that medical education and training across the United Kingdom (UK) is adhering to and delivering the standards it expects.
27 November 2014
Doctors' quick guide to the Duty of Candour
New regulations come into force today designed to fundamentally change the way that NHS bodies act after a notifiable safety incident (NSI). Implemented following a Francis Inquiry recommendation, the new duty of candour is central to the government’s vision of a new NHS culture of openness, support and a commitment to learn from mistakes.
26 November 2014
Case Update: High Court considers how to strike the appropriate balance between a registrant’s right to privacy as against the public interest in the regulator having access to relevant material
R (Nakash) v Metropolitan Police Service; General Medical Council [2014] EWHC 3810
The Claimant in this application invited the Court to prohibit the disclosure by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) of material requested by the General Medical Council (GMC) on the basis that; it was unlawfully obtained by the police, in breach of the Claimant’s Article 8 rights; that it included material of a highly personal and confidential nature; and that the material had no relevance to the issue of the Claimant’s fitness to practise as a doctor.
11 August 2014
GMC Consultation on Draft Order – taking up the torch of the Law Commission reforms in the absence of government action?
On 31 July 2014 the Department of Health (DoH) published their consultation paper, The General Medical Council and Professional Standards Authority: Proposed changes to modernise and reform the adjudication of fitness to practise cases , the aim of which is to ‘strengthen and modernise the GMC’s adjudication systems’. Annexed to the consultation document, which poses various questions to those potentially affected by the changes, inviting comment, is the draft Order; The General Medical Council (Fitness to Practise etc.) and the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (Referrals to Court) Order 2014 The Order amends the Medical Act 1983 and National Health Service Reform and Health Care Professions Act 2002 to implement the key reforms.
The reforms are said to be designed to increase the separation between the investigation of fitness to practise cases and adjudications, strengthen and modernise the GMC powers and implement changes to the power of the Professional Standards Authority (PSA) to refer cases to higher courts.