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Request for Fitness to Practice data

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Dear Imperial College London,

I write to request data held with regard to Fitness to Practice (FTP) procedures in your Medical School. Please can I be provided with:

1. Any FTP Procedures and Policies, in particular those pertaining to investigative and/or committee processes that take place in your School of Medicine;
2. The number of FTP investigations that have taken place in your School of Medicine across each academic year for the last five years;
3. The basis for each of these FTP investigations, for example:

• A criminal conviction, caution, reprimand or penalty notice for disorder (PND) or equivalent
• Drug or alcohol misuse
• Aggressive, violent or threatening behaviour
• Persistent inappropriate attitudes or behaviour
• Dishonesty or fraud, including dishonesty outside the professional role
• Unprofessional behaviour or attitudes
• Health concerns and lack of insight or management of these concerns

4. The time to completion for each of these FTP investigations, and any related appeals.

Yours faithfully,

Sarah Steele

IMPFOI, Imperial College London

Dear Ms Steele,

This is to acknowledge receipt of your request below which has been passed to me to respond to under the Freedom of Information Act.

The College aims to respond to your request within twenty working days of receipt of your request.

We will contact you again in due course.

Kind regards
Catherine Harpham

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IMPFOI, Imperial College London

Dear Ms Steele

Thank you for your recent Freedom of Information request. Please find below the College's response to your questions.

"1. Any FTP Procedures and Policies, in particular those pertaining to investigative and/or committee processes that take place in your School of Medicine;"

Please see the College's Fitness to Practice Medicine Procedures available here:

https://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperia...

"2. The number of FTP investigations that have taken place in your School of Medicine across each academic year for the last five years;
3. The basis for each of these FTP investigations, for example:

• A criminal conviction, caution, reprimand or penalty notice for disorder (PND) or equivalent • Drug or alcohol misuse • Aggressive, violent or threatening behaviour • Persistent inappropriate attitudes or behaviour • Dishonesty or fraud, including dishonesty outside the professional role • Unprofessional behaviour or attitudes • Health concerns and lack of insight or management of these concerns

4. The time to completion for each of these FTP investigations, and any related appeals."

The College's Fitness to Practice Medicine Procedures are comprised of three separate stages:
a) Procedure for the Initiation of an Assessment of Fitness to Practice Medicine
b) Procedure for a meeting of the Fitness to Practice Medicine Panel
c) Procedure for making appeals against the decision of the Fitness to Practice Medicine Panel.

The Procedure at Stage a) is undertaken by the Student Monitoring Group (SMG) within the Faculty of Medicine. All cases are first referred to the SMG for an investigation into the case and a decision on whether to initiate stage b) of the Fitness to Practice Medicine Procedures. Some cases are dismissed and never come before a Fitness to Practice Medicine Panel.

Therefore the figures below relate only to cases from Stage b) and Stage c) of the Fitness to Practice Medicine Procedures, where cases went before a Fitness to Practice Panel, and some then to an Appeal.

The total number of Fitness to Practice cases for 2014/15 to 2018/19 (to date) inclusive is 9.

The average number of working days for Fitness to Practice cases, from referral from the SMG to completion of procedures, for 2014/15 to 2018/19 (to date) inclusive, is 142.

Please note that some cases had a case review hearing, and some went to an appeal.

It is not possible for the College to break down the figures per year, nor to provide additional details concerning the basis for individual cases, because there is a risk that individuals may be identifiable as a result of the release of this information. This information is therefore exempt from disclosure under Section 40 (2) of the Freedom of Information Act, which states that “any information to which a request for information relates is also exempt information if – (a) it constitutes personal data”.

Although the College is unable to release detailed information on individual cases, we can confirm that the issues raised in FTP cases in the period 2014/15 to 2018/19 included:

• Aggressive or violent behaviour
• Drug misuse
• Dishonesty or fraud, including dishonesty outside the professional role
• Health concerns and lack of insight or management of these concerns
• Inappropriate attitudes or behaviour
• Unprofessional behaviour or attitudes

If you are unhappy with the way that we have handled your request, you can ask us to conduct a review. Please make your representation in writing within 40 days of the date you received this response. If you remain dissatisfied with how Imperial College has handled your request you may then approach the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Kind regards

Freedom of Information Team
Imperial College London

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We don't know whether the most recent response to this request contains information or not – if you are Sarah Steele please sign in and let everyone know.