Disciplinary Investigations

The request was partially successful.

James Michael Cooper

Dear General Medical Council,

1)Please could you supply me with the Names of ALL Medical Professionals who are Registered with you who have been struck off the GMC Register, whether fully or Partially from within the time frame 2005-PRESENT.

2)Please could you supply me with the Names of ALL Medical Professionals who are Registered with you who have been Investigated by the GMC for any Disciplinary reason such as Medical Negligence, Misconduct, Failure in Care of Duty etc from time frame 2005-PRESENT. (Please include ALL Investigations regardless of Length of Investigation or Outcomes of said Investigations)

Yours faithfully,

James Michael Cooper

Julian Graves (0161 923 6351), General Medical Council

Dear Mr Cooper

Information Request (our ref: IAT/F10/3197/JM)

Thank you for your e-mail below in which you request information in
accordance with the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000
(FOIA).

We will consider your request and you will normally receive the
information you seek within the 20 working day limit set by the FOIA.

The FOIA lists a number of exemptions that may prevent the release of
part, or all, of the information that you have requested. We will make
an assessment of the requested information and if it is subject to an
exemption you will be informed of this, together with details of your
right of appeal.

Your request has been allocated to Janet Mauldridge. If you have any
queries concerning your request you can contact Ms Mauldridge on 0161
923 6324 or by email: [email address]

Yours sincerely

Julian Graves
Information Access Manager
0161 923 6351
[email address]

General Medical Council
3 Hardman Street
Manchester
M3 3AW

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Janet Mauldridge (0161 923 6324), General Medical Council

2 Attachments

Our ref: F10/3197/JM

Dear Mr Cooper,

I refer to your email of 12 August 2010 in which you requested information
from the GMC. Your request has now been considered in accordance with the
Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).

In response to your enquiry please find attached a list of all doctors who
have been erased from the medical register since 2005 for disciplinary
reasons.

You also requested the names of all doctors who have been investigated by
the GMC for any reason. Our current electronic database starting recording
complaints electronically in April 2006 and I have therefore attached a
list of all doctors who have been the subject of a Fitness to Practise
Panel since this time. Please note this list includes doctors where no
finding of impairment was made against them.

In relation to the names of other doctors who have been the subject of a
complaint which has not progressed to a Fitness to Practise Panel we
consider that this information is exempt from disclosure under the FOIA.
The exemption we consider applies is section 40(2) by virtue of section
40(3)(a)(i) of the FOIA. This relates to information requested which is
the personal data of a third party, and the disclosure of which would be
in breach of the Principles of the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA). In this
instance we believe that the disclosure of this type of information would
breach the First Principle, which requires that the processing of personal
data is fair and lawful. We consider that the conditions in Schedule 2 of
the DPA, relating to the processing of personal data, are not met and
that, therefore, the release of the information you have requested, would
be unlawful.

We believe that it is reasonable for doctors to expect that if a complaint
made against them has not progressed to a public hearing, or does not
result in any action upon their registration, the fact that such
complaints had been made would be kept confidential and would not be
released into the public domain.

This exemption is absolute, which means that it is not subject to a public
interest test (in order to assess if the public interest is greater served
by disclosing the information than maintaining the exemption).

You have the right of appeal against the refusal aspects of this decision.
If you wish to appeal please set out in writing your grounds and send to
Julian Graves, Information Access Manager, at the address below.
Alternatively you can email [1][email address] You also have the right
of appeal to the Information Commissioner, the independent regulator of
the FOIA and DPA. If appropriate, Mr Graves will provide the relevant
contact details.

Yours sincerely

Janet Mauldridge

Information Access Team Administrator

0161 923 6324

[email address]

General Medical Council

3 Hardman Street

Manchester

M3 3AW

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Richard Taylor left an annotation ()

A doctor included in one of the lists released has contacted us asking us to cease publishing their name, or the document as a whole.

The doctor claimed harm, distress and humiliation was being caused unfairly by our publication.

The doctor's name is correctly included in the release. This is not a case where a mistake has been made.

We at WhatDoTheyKnow.com have carefully considered the case put forward and have decided to continue to publish the material as we consider our continued publication is reasonable, justified and fair.

--

Richard - WhatDoTheyKnow.com volunteer

S. Ali left an annotation ()

Personal details are personal details. I am not name or involved in the above.

Clearly there are those that make submissions for the purposes of harm, distress and humiliation.

The GMC already publishes names personally when lawfully correct, this website is really helpful, for FOI not SAR requests. It should not be misused to target individuals and replicate personal information. I have sympathy for those making the request however if it was their personal information, would they say different? (That is the acid test)