Government approves plan to allow fitness to practise panels to recoup costs from doctors

The government has approved plans to allow the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) to recoup costs from doctors.

The Department of Health for England has published its report on the responses to its consultation on changes to how the General Medical Council and the Professional Standards Authority work.1 As part of the response the government said that it had approved plans that would allow the MPTS to recoup costs from doctors who had failed to follow its rules or who demonstrated unreasonable behaviour.2 The MPTS will also become a statutory committee of the GMC.

The report discussed the 81 responses submitted to the consultation. It said that “73% of respondents supported the proposal to enable the MPTS to award costs, draw adverse inferences, and refuse to admit evidence following a party’s failure to comply with rules or directions or otherwise award costs for unreasonable behaviour.” Not all respondents agreed with the proposal. The report said, “The Medical and Dental Defence Union of Scotland (MDDUS) stated that they did not think it was appropriate to penalise doctors by awarding costs, drawing an adverse inference or refusing to admit evidence because they had failed to meet an arbitrary case management timeline.”

The government also approved plans that would allow the GMC to mount a challenge in the High Court to decisions made by the MPTS. The report said, “The majority of consultation respondents (70%) did not agree that the GMC should have a right of appeal corresponding to the PSA’s power to refer cases to the higher courts in order to challenge MPTS decisions.” The government said it was confident that “introducing a right of appeal for the GMC is appropriate given the increased separation between the investigation and adjudication functions and the status of the GMC as one of the parties at a medical practitioner’s tribunal hearing.”

The health department also decided to proceed with plans to allow the GMC to email decisions to doctors rather than send a letter, despite 57% of respondents raising concerns with the proposal. It said, “27% of respondents agreed that it would improve the speed of communication if notifications of decision could be provided by e-mail . . . However, a large proportion of respondents (57%) felt that there was a high risk associated with e-mail delivery and that there needed to be confirmation of receipt and/or an alternative hard-copy notification as well.”

The health department said that the GMC and the MPTS would use an email to contact a doctor only if the address had been provided specifically for that reason and that the email would include a read receipt. “We consider that the requirement for a ‘read receipt’ would provide the necessary additional protection and that it is not necessary to require service by hard copy in such cases as well,” the report said.