GMC retaining right to appeal tribunal decisions ‘threatens’ doctors’ confidence

General Medical Council

By Daniel Pye

Failing to remove the General Medical Council’s right to appeal tribunal decisions “threatens” the profession’s confidence in the regulator, medical leaders have warned.

In a response to the government’s planned reforms to the regulator, the union said it ‘strongly disagrees’ with the retention of the GMC’s power to appeal the outcome of fitness to practise hearings and further extending it to cover interim measures.

The government previously had backed removing the right after it was recommended in the 2018 Williams Review following the Dr Hadiza Bawa-Garba case, where a doctor in training received the blame for the death of a young boy amid an overstretched system.

This review found that the right of appeal had “undermined doctors’ trust in the GMC”.

'Confidence predicated on independence'

Currently the GMC appeals in cases where it feels an MPTS sanction of a doctor has not sufficiently protected the public.

Laura Russell, the BMA’s head of regulation, education and teaching, said: “It is our longstanding position that confidence in the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service is predicated on its independence.”