A third more doctors faced GMC fitness to practise panel hearings in 2009 than the previous year.
The GMC’s annual report on the number of complaints received about doctors reveals that 270 panel hearings took place in 2009 compared with 204 in 2008.
This led to 85 doctors being erased from the medical register in 2009. Sixty eight were struck off at a panel hearing and 15 at review hearings, compared to 42 at panel hearings in 2008.
The most common allegation resulting in erasure from the register in 2009 related to improper relationships with patients - 15 cases in total.
The most common hearing outcome was suspension, with 77 doctors being suspended. The largest proportion of doctors appearing before a panel were specialists at 45%, followed by GPs on 37%.
The GMC believes that the increase is due to more enquiries being made by NHS, police and other public authorities, which has risen significantly since 2006. Referrals from these groups are likely to be more serious and therefore more likely to progress through to a public hearing. Overall the number of enquiries rose by 11% last year.
Paul Philip, director of standards and fitness to practise, said: “We are seeing an increasing number of referrals to our fitness to practise procedures from employers and other public authorities like the police but the reasons for this are not entirely clear. What is clear is that although there has been an increase in the number of cases the overall numbers represent a very small proportion of the 230,000 registered doctors in the UK.”
Doctors, however, suggested the rise was due to the imminent introduction of revalidation and employers seeking to get their houses in order.
Over three quarters of all doctors who went before a fitness to practise panel in 2009 were found to be impaired. A lower proportion of UK-qualified doctors faced impairment at the hands of the GMC than those who qualified in either Europe or further afield.
Tags: fitness to practise, GMC
