GPs could answer to three levels of responsible officer
BMJ 2012; 345 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.e8540 (Published 15 December 2012) Cite this as: BMJ 2012;345:e8540
The NHS Commissioning Board is likely to have three tiers of responsible officer so as to avoid conflicts of interest where individuals responsible for revalidating GPs are also in charge of overseeing clinical commissioning.
All GPs who are on a primary care performers list, responsible officers in certain designated bodies, and some secondary care locums would be revalidated by responsible officers hosted by the NHS Commissioning Board.
The Department of Health’s consultation on amendments to the Medical Profession (Responsible Officer) Regulations 2010 has sought to clarify the role of responsible officers in the new NHS structures. But several respondents to the consultation have expressed concerns over a potential conflict within the NHS Commissioning Board between the role of the responsible officers and the role of individuals responsible for policies on commissioning.
The health department has suggested that the NHS Commissioning Board appoint a second responsible officer when there is a conflict of interest or an appearance of bias. It said that there could also be a third responsible officer to ensure that there are no conflicts of interest for the second responsible officer.
In its response to the April consultation the department announced that responsible officers for trainees would be hosted by local education and training boards (LETBs) once the boards take over responsibilities for postgraduate medical training from deaneries.
“We think that it makes sense to align the role the responsible officer performs with the role of responsibility for the supervision of trainees’ training, reducing duplication,” the department said.
The Wales Deanery, the Defence Deanery, and the National Deanery for Pharmaceutical Medicine will continue to exist outside LETBs and will host their own responsible officers.
Public health doctors employed by local authorities will be revalidated by responsible officers at Public Health England, the new organisation in charge of public health from April 2013.