The Government has committed to reforming GMC regulation within this Parliament after years of delays.
Despite agreeing to the reform in 2018, the Government is yet to introduce legislative amendments which will enable ‘swifter’ and ‘less adversarial’ fitness-to-practise (FTP) investigations, as well as quash the GMC’s powers to appeal FTP decisions.
The GMC welcomed the Government’s commitment to prioritise reform of healthcare professional regulation, noting that the current laws around GMC regulation – which are more than 40 years old – are ‘complex, overly prescriptive, and slow to adapt’.
Yesterday, when announcing plans to make ‘fake nurses’ a criminal offence, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said: ‘These changes, which require legislative change, will be implemented within this Parliament as part of the government’s commitment to reform the regulation of health and care professionals in the UK.’
Health minister Karin Smyth also told MPs that the amendment to legislation around nurses ‘will be made as part of the Government’s professional regulation reform programme, which will modernise the legislative frameworks’ of the GMC and other healthcare regulators.
In 2018, then-heath secretary Jeremy Hunt announced that the GMC will no longer be able to appeal decisions made by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS).
This was one of a number of measures the DHSC planned to implement following its ‘rapid review’ into medical gross negligence manslaughter launched after the controversial Bawa-Garba ruling earlier that year.
DHSC then consulted on plans to reform the GMC in 2021, which rubber-stamped plans to remove the GMC’s right to appeal, and also included proposals to allow ‘more FTP cases to be concluded earlier through accepted outcome decisions made by case examiners’.
In 2022, DHSC told Pulse that the Government will consult on draft legislation which it aimed to lay the following year.
But delays to this legislation have persisted, and in May last year the Medical Protection Society called on the next Government following the general election to urgently prioritise GMC reform.
Pulse has asked DHSC at what point within this Parliament it plans to introduce the legislation.
The GMC told Pulse today that the Government has stated it intends to legislate to remove the regulator’s right of appeal and will decide how and when to bring in these changes.
A spokesperson added: ‘We are not opposed to the decision of removing our right of appeal.
‘However, we would be acting unlawfully if we did not give due consideration to the exercise of our powers to appeal a decision where the decision could reasonably be considered insufficient to protect the public.’
GMC chief executive Charlie Massey said: ‘We welcome this announcement from the Minister of State for Health and Secondary Care.
‘Updating our antiquated legislation is a crucial step in enabling us to take a more responsive and flexible approach to regulation, and will make our processes simpler, faster and less adversarial.
‘We remain ready to progress this as soon as the Department for Health and Social Care lays the necessary legislation.’
What GMC reform will do
- Increase flexibility by allowing the GMC to change its own rules more quickly when improvements are needed
- Swifter and more efficient fitness to practise processes, as the GMC will be able to conduct investigations proportionately and to resolve cases more quickly
- Less adversarial fitness to practise processes, as currently there are limited opportunities to resolve cases without going to tribunal;
- In future, senior decision makers will be able to propose what action the GMC should take to protect the public at the end of an investigation. If a registrant accepts a finding that their fitness to practise is impaired and the action proposed to address this, the matter can be resolved without a hearing, leading to a quicker, less stressful conclusion, while continuing to protect the public
- Streamline the approach to registration
Source: GMC
In December, the GMC formally took on regulation of physician associates (PAs) and anaesthesia associates (AAs), and in April the regulator said over 1,400 associates had been officially registered.
Of the 4 items the GMC will reform I find it hard to believe it will include second & third.
Doesnt include “right to forget” either.