GDC consultation on modernising fitness to practise

GDC consultation on modernising fitness to practise

Title: Modernisation of the GDC’s fitness to practise procedures

Date: November 2011

Summary: The consultation proposes a number of changes to the GDC’s fitness to practise procedures, which centre on the introduction of ‘case adjudicators’. Case adjudicators, one lay and one clinical, would consider each case before deciding on the appropriate action. It is suggested that this would be a more proportionate approach to the one the GDC currently use, where advice and warning letters can only be issued by an Investigating Committee.

It is our view that the suggested changes are an appropriate response to the demands being placed on the fitness to practise function of the GDC. However, we consider that to avoid confusion, the new role is described as a ‘case examiner’. We suggest that the GDC makes more information available about how certain aspects of the new process would work, in order to enhance confidence in regulation. Finally, we consider that the GDC might want to extend the power to reopen closed cases to those situations where a decision made may have been materially flawed.

Read our response

Read the original consultation