Clause 13.—(MEDICAL DISCIPLINARY COMMITTEE.) (Hansard, 14 July 1950)

§ Dr. Morgan
I beg to move, in page 8, line 6, to leave out "Disciplinary," and to insert "Penal Cases."
I do not wish the disciplinary committee to have anything to do with this. I wish the penal cases committee to investigate first whether there is a prima facie case for the accused person to answer and if the penal cases committee finds there is a prima facie case, then this Amendment asks that a certain procedure should be adopted. I want the word "Disciplinary" to be deleted, so that the committee will not have powers of discipline and will be a committee for investigating penal cases, with a view to discovering whether there is a prima facie case to answer.

Dr. Hill
This innocent-looking Amendment is aimed at the whole structure of 1797 this part of the Bill. This recasting of the disciplinary machinery, and the establishment of a body smaller than the General Medical Council for this purpose, are among the most important parts of the Bill, and I hope that they will be left untouched.

§ Dr. Morgan
The hon. Gentleman is speaking against a committee of his own organisation.

Dr. Hill
I am expressing the views I hold, however they may conflict with those of anybody else. The Council has a penal cases committee which advises the President and sorts out the frivolous from the real complaints. Reference will be made to that in a later Amendment. The structure under which the penal cases committee, in consultation with the President, sorts out the complaints made against practitioners, and in addition to which there is a separate body which hears the cases, should commend itself even to the hon. Member for Warrington (Dr. Morgan). It certainly represents a considerable advance in the technique and methods of the General Medical Council.

§ Mr. Bevan
I hope that my hon. Friend will not press this Amendment. This part of the Bill—and indeed all the rest of it—has been arrived at by general agreement with those concerned. This part of the Bill would be torpedoed if we accepted this Amendment. It must always be borne in mind that the function of the General Medical Council is to maintain, and even to raise, the general standards of the medical profession, and to protect the public—the two things together. Sometimes the last is forgotten and only the first remembered, and sometimes the first is forgotten and the last remembered. In holding the balance even, we have tried to provide the General Medical Council with the best procedure and machinery. I hope that at this late stage, we shall not make this major alteration.

§ Dr. Morgan
On principle, I cannot withdraw the Amendment. I do not wish the General Medical Council to have in their hands the power to take action for an alleged offence which may affect not only a man's career, but his wife and children who have to bear the burden of his removal from the Register, if the penalty is as big as that. I want that power to be taken completely out of their 1798 hands. I suggest that they should have only the power of investigation, the power to say whether there is a prima facie case for a man to answer. If there is a case to answer, then it should go before another body which would try him properly. I am speaking, I think, to a decision arrived at by a committee of the British Medical Association of which I was a member, and I do not think that the hon. Member for Luton (Dr. Hill) was present. I am sorry to have to disturb the Government on this matter. I feel most strongly about it, and I cannot agree that the Amendment should be withdrawn.