Conduct of Assistant Registrar in review of complaint against Dr Subrata Saha.

The request was refused by General Medical Council.

Dear General Medical Council,

An Assistant Registrar, said to be a senior member of the GMC, undertook a review of the failures of the GMC to address complaints against Dr Subrata Saha. The outcome of this "review" was that the complainant was subjected to abuse and defamation, plus the manner in which this was dealt with amounted to malfeasance and misconduct. Despite two copies of a statement having been sent to the GMC on separate occasions, the Assistant Registrar claimed these couldn't be traced. Since the covering letter had been received by the GMC, this looks unlikely.

Can you provide information as follows:

1) Is it the policy of the GMC to make abusive and libellous statements to, and about, complainants in reviews such as this?

2) Is it the policy to make false statements in relation to correspondence received and the history of the complaint?

3) Why has the Assistant Registrar not been identified?

4) Given it took the GMC seven months to undertake said "review", how is it that it was dealt with in such an unsatisfactory manner? What is the target time for replying to complainants who request a review?

5) How is it that the very serious failures of this doctor were ignored, or covered up? Why were false statements made to exonerate him?

6) Case reference: E1-1526811858.

Yours faithfully,

Ann Williams

FOI, General Medical Council

Thank you for getting in touch. Please note this is an automated email.

 

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Thank you

 

Information access team

General Medical Council

Email: [GMC request email]

Telephone: 0161 923 6365

Working with doctors Working for patients

The General Medical Council helps to protect patients and improve medical
education and practice in the UK by setting standards for students and
doctors. We support them in achieving (and exceeding) those standards, and
take action when they are not met.

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FOI, General Medical Council

Dear Ann Williams,

 

Your information request – F17/9015/SJ

Thank you for your email dated 28^th July 2017.

 

How we will consider your request

 

We’re going to consider your request under the Freedom of Information Act
2000 (FOIA). The FOIA gives us 20 working days to respond, but we’ll come
back to you as soon as we can.

 

Who to contact

 

Sadie Jones will be handling your request. If you have any questions you
can call her on 0161 250 6889 or her at email [1][email address].

 

Yours sincerely

 

Natasha

 

Natasha Whittaker

Information Access Assistant

[2][email address]

0161 240 8178

General Medical Council

3 Hardman Street

Manchester

M3 3AW

 

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Sadie Jones (0161 250 6889), General Medical Council

Dear Ms Williams

 

Your information access request F17/9015/SJ

 

Thank you for your email dated 28 July, which I’ve considered your request
under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).

 

I can confirm that it is not GMC policy to make abusive and libellous
statements to, and about, complainants or to make false statements in
relation to the correspondence that has been received, and/or the history
of the complaint.

 

Under the FOIA, I can’t even confirm whether we hold any of the
information that you have requested in questions 3, 4 & 5. We believe it’s
reasonable for doctors and complainants to expect that complaints will be
treated as confidential. If a case progresses to a public hearing, or the
doctor receives a sanction on their registration, certain information may
be made publicly available by the GMC. Otherwise the information is
treated as the confidential personal data of the doctor and other parties
involved, including information about Assistant Registrars. I’ve given
details of the exemption under the FOIA which applies below.

 

The exemption

 

Section 40(5)(b)(i) of the FOIA applies where the information, if held,
would be the personal data of a third party and where confirming whether
it’s held would breach any principle of the DPA.  I believe that to
publicly confirm or deny whether we hold the information would breach the
first principle of the DPA, which requires that the processing of personal
data is fair and lawful. I believe the conditions in Schedule 2 of the
DPA, which are about the processing of personal information, are not met
and therefore giving you the information would be unlawful.

 

Your right to appeal

 

I'm sorry I couldn’t provide the information you requested. You can appeal
against this decision to Julian Graves, Information Access Manager. If you
want to appeal, please set out your reasons and write to him at the above
address or email [1][email address].  You can also appeal to the
Information Commissioner, the regulator of the FOIA and DPA – we can
provide more details about this if you need them.

 

Yours sincerely

Sadie Jones

Information Access Officer

[2][email address]

0161 250 6889

 

General Medical Council

3 Hardman Street

Manchester

M3 3AW

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Dear General Medical Council,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of General Medical Council's handling of my FOI request 'Conduct of Assistant Registrar in review of complaint against Dr Subrata Saha.'.

The response from the GMC is similar in nature to the manner in which it handled this complaint, ie Malfeasance, defamation, malicious falsehood, false statements and a complete refusal to undertake an impartial investigation. Rather than examine the genuine serious concerns that were raised, the GMC chose to act with repeated mendacity, engaging in an attempt at character assassination of the complainant, plus other smears. Having failed to investigate the complaint initially, the GMC then took over 7 months to do a "review", supposed to have been by an Assistant Registrar of senior standing. This was even more flawed than the original investigation. It can be concluded that the malign influence of Freemasonry was a factor here.

There is no good, lawful, reason why the GMC cannot provide information on items 3, 4 and 5 of the FOI request. It is in the public interest to do so.

It can be stated as a fact that the GMC acted unlawfully and this was deliberate misconduct on its part.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/c...

Yours faithfully,

Ann Williams

FOI, General Medical Council

Thank you for getting in touch. Please note this is an automated email.

 

We’ll get back to you as soon as we can with a further acknowledgement.
You’ll usually hear from us on the next working day, but it might take a
little longer during busy periods.

 

In the meantime, if you want any further information about the GMC, please
visit our website.

 

 

Thank you

 

Information access team

General Medical Council

Email: [GMC request email]

Telephone: 0161 923 6365

Working with doctors Working for patients

The General Medical Council helps to protect patients and improve medical
education and practice in the UK by setting standards for students and
doctors. We support them in achieving (and exceeding) those standards, and
take action when they are not met.

FOI, General Medical Council

Dear Ann Williams,

 

Thank you for your email dated 26^th August 2017.

We will be considering your email under our comments and complaints
procedure. This sets a target response time of 20 working days. We will
endeavour to respond to you within this timeframe.  

 

Julian Graves will be responding to your email. If you have any queries,
you can contact him on 0161 923 6351 or email him on
[1][email address].

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Natasha

 

Natasha Whittaker

Information Access Assistant

[2][email address]

0161 240 8178

General Medical Council

3 Hardman Street

Manchester

M3 3AW

Julian Graves (0161 923 6351), General Medical Council

1 Attachment

Dear Ms Williams

 

Please find attached my response to your request for a review.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Julian Graves

 

 

Julian Graves

Information Access Manager

General Medical Council

3 Hardman Street

Manchester M3 3AW

 

Tel. no: 0161 923 6351

Email: [1][email address]

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Julian Graves (0161 923 6351),

Your response comes as no surprise and this continues the despicable behaviour of the GMC to date.

This matter will be referred to the ICO where it is hoped some lawful approach will be applied.

The GMC covering up for doctors, killing patients.

Yours sincerely,

Ann Williams