investigating Doctors

The request was partially successful.

Dear General Medical Council,

what is the process for investigating doctors?

who decides if a complaint should be investigated?

how many complaints have been abandoned without making an investigation?

what system or process do you have to avoid referring every complaint about doctors to the mpts?

Yours faithfully,

susan charnock

FOI, General Medical Council

Thank you for getting in touch.

 

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.
_________________________________________________________________

Unless otherwise expressly agreed by the sender of this email, this
communication may contain privileged or confidential information which is
exempt from disclosure under UK law. This email and its attachments may
not be used or disclosed except for the purpose for which it has been
sent.

If you are not the addressee or have received this email in error, please
do not read, print, re-transmit, store or act in reliance on it or any
attachments. Instead, please email the sender and then immediately delete
it.

General Medical Council

3 Hardman Street, Manchester M3 3AW

Regents Place, 350 Euston Road, London NW1 3JN

The Tun, 4 Jacksons Entry, Holyrood Road, Edinburgh EH8 8AE

4th Floor, Caspian Point 2, Caspian Way, Cardiff Bay CF10 4DQ

9th Floor, Bedford House, 16-22 Bedford Street, Belfast BT2 7FD

The GMC is a charity registered in England and Wales (1089278) and
Scotland (SC037750)

hide quoted sections

FOI, General Medical Council

Dear Ms Charnock

Your information request – F16/7949/EH 

Thank you for your email dated 16 February asking for information and
statistics about the GMC investigation process.

How we will consider your request 

We’re going to look at 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  

Elizabeth Hiley will be handling your request. If you have any questions
you can call her on 0161 923 6314 or email her at [1][email address]. 

Yours sincerely 

Miss Sadie Jones

Information Assistant

[2][email address]

0161 250 6889

 

General Medical Council

3 Hardman Street

Manchester

M3 3AW

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

-----Original Message-----
From: susan charnock [mailto:[FOI #316815 email]]
Sent: 16 February 2016 15:09
To: FOI
Subject: Freedom of Information request - investigating Doctors

 

     Dear General Medical Council,

    

     what is the process for investigating doctors?

    

     who decides if a complaint should be investigated?

    

     how many complaints have been abandoned without making an

     investigation?

    

     what system or process do you have to avoid referring every

     complaint about doctors to the mpts?

    

     Yours faithfully,

    

     susan charnock

    

     -------------------------------------------------------------------

    

     Please use this email address for all replies to this request:

     [3][FOI #316815 email]

    

     Is [4][GMC request email] the wrong address for Freedom of Information

     requests to General Medical Council? If so, please contact us using

     this form:

     [5]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/change_re...

    

     Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be

     published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:

     [6]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/offi...

    

     For more detailed guidance on safely disclosing information, read

     the latest advice from the ICO:

     [7]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/ico-...

    

     If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your

     web manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.

    

     

     -------------------------------------------------------------------

 

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.
_________________________________________________________________

Unless otherwise expressly agreed by the sender of this email, this
communication may contain privileged or confidential information which is
exempt from disclosure under UK law. This email and its attachments may
not be used or disclosed except for the purpose for which it has been
sent.

If you are not the addressee or have received this email in error, please
do not read, print, re-transmit, store or act in reliance on it or any
attachments. Instead, please email the sender and then immediately delete
it.

General Medical Council

3 Hardman Street, Manchester M3 3AW

Regents Place, 350 Euston Road, London NW1 3JN

The Tun, 4 Jacksons Entry, Holyrood Road, Edinburgh EH8 8AE

4th Floor, Caspian Point 2, Caspian Way, Cardiff Bay CF10 4DQ

9th Floor, Bedford House, 16-22 Bedford Street, Belfast BT2 7FD

The GMC is a charity registered in England and Wales (1089278) and
Scotland (SC037750)

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. mailto:[email address]
3. mailto:[FOI #316815 email]
4. mailto:[GMC request email]
5. https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/change_re...
6. https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/offi...
7. https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/ico-...

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Elizabeth Hiley (0161 923 6314), General Medical Council

Dear Ms Charnock

Thank you for your request for information about complaints and the investigation process. I've numbered your questions for ease of reference.

1. What is the process for investigating doctors?

Details regarding the investigation process are available on our website. Please see http://www.gmc-uk.org/concerns/the_inves.... This information is therefore subject to the exemption at section 21 of the FOIA (details given below).

2. Who decides if a complaint should be investigated?

When we receive information about a doctor an Assistant Registrar (a specially trained member of GMC staff) decides whether an investigation should be carried out. The Assistant Registrar can seek medical or legal advice where required to inform that decision.

3. How many complaints have been abandoned without making an investigation?

We publish data showing the volume of complaints we receive and what happens to those complaints during our investigations. The annual statistics we publish about our fitness to practise activity are available here: http://www.gmc-uk.org/concerns/24195.asp. Our latest report of the state of medical education and practice in the UK also provides the information you require. This is available at http://www.gmc-uk.org/publications/somep.... Please see pages 60-61 (chapter 2) for a breakdown of the number of enquiries received in 2014 (an enquiry is any piece of information received by the GMC that needs to be assessed to consider whether it raises a question about a doctor's fitness to practise). This provides information on the number closed without investigation. Again, this information is subject to the exemption at section 21 of the FOIA (details given below).

4. What system or process do you have to avoid referring every complaint about doctors to the MPTS?

We do not refer every complaint to the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service. Details of how to access information about the investigation process and data on the number of complaints closed without investigation is provided above.

As the information you ask for regarding the investigation process and the number of complaints closed without investigation is already publically available, we are not obliged to provide it under the FOIA. This is because it is subject to the exemption listed at section 21 of the FOIA. Section 21 of the FOIA applies where the information is already reasonably accessible to the requester.

Even though I’ve provided you with details of where to find the information, I still need to mention that you can appeal my decision to apply the above exemption. If you would like to do so, please set out your reasons and write to Julian Graves, Information Access Manager, at [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.

If you have any further queries regarding this request please contact me.

Yours sincerely

Elizabeth Hiley
Information Access Officer
General Medical Council

Telephone: 0161 923 6314
Email: [email address]

-----Original Message-----
From: susan charnock [mailto:[FOI #316815 email]]
Sent: 16 February 2016 15:09
To: FOI
Subject: Freedom of Information request - investigating Doctors

Dear General Medical Council,

what is the process for investigating doctors?

who decides if a complaint should be investigated?

how many complaints have been abandoned without making an
investigation?

what system or process do you have to avoid referring every
complaint about doctors to the mpts?

Yours faithfully,

susan charnock

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #316815 email]

Is [GMC request email] the wrong address for Freedom of Information
requests to General Medical Council? If so, please contact us using
this form:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/change_re...

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be
published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/offi...

For more detailed guidance on safely disclosing information, read
the latest advice from the ICO:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/ico-...

If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your
web manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.


-------------------------------------------------------------------

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.
_________________________________________________________________

Unless otherwise expressly agreed by the sender of this email, this communication may contain privileged or confidential information which is exempt from disclosure under UK law. This email and its attachments may not be used or disclosed except for the purpose for which it has been sent.

If you are not the addressee or have received this email in error, please do not read, print, re-transmit, store or act in reliance on it or any attachments. Instead, please email the sender and then immediately delete it.

General Medical Council

3 Hardman Street, Manchester M3 3AW

Regents Place, 350 Euston Road, London NW1 3JN

The Tun, 4 Jacksons Entry, Holyrood Road, Edinburgh EH8 8AE

4th Floor, Caspian Point 2, Caspian Way, Cardiff Bay CF10 4DQ

9th Floor, Bedford House, 16-22 Bedford Street, Belfast BT2 7FD

The GMC is a charity registered in England and Wales (1089278) and Scotland (SC037750)

hide quoted sections