§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether the medical profession was consulted on the drafting of the Abortion (Amendment) Regulations 1976; and, if so, which representative bodies were so consulted and what advice they gave.
§ Dr. OwenRepresentatives of the medical profession were not consulted about the drafting of the Abortion (Amendment) Regulations 1976; they were, however, consulted on the recommendations of the Lane Committee on the Working of the Abortion Act from which the amended regulations stemmed. The unanimous recommendations made in the Third Special Report by the House of Commons Select Committee on the424W Abortion (Amendment) Bill were also taken into account in the drafting of the Regulations.
§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what representations he had from the Royal College of Obstericians and Gynaecologists opposing the recommendation of the Lane Committee that the Chief Medical Officer, DHSS, should be empowered to disclose to the President of the General Medical Council information based on reports which had been given in confidence.
§ Dr. OwenThe Council of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists stated that it
strongly opposed … the recommendation that the Chief Medical Officers of Health should be empowered to disclose information based on reports which have been given in confidence".In the light of this representation, and those received from other bodies consulted, it was decided that the regulations should limit disclosure to cases where the Chief Medical Officer was so requested by the President of the General Medical Council.
§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Social Services why the Abortion Amendment Regulations do not require that the disclosure of confidential information by the Chief Medical Officer, DHSS, to the President of the General Medical Council must have the consent in writing of the woman whose pregnancy was terminated, as laid down for other practitioner-to-practitioner disclosures in paragraph 5, sub-paragraph (g) of the Abortion Regulations 1968.
§ Dr. OwenThe disclosure may only be made at the request of the President of the General Medical Council for the purpose of investigating a complaint that there has been serious professional misconduct by a doctor. It is not a practitioner-to-practitioner disclosure in the sense of Regulation 5(g), which provides for the passing, but only with the written consent of the patient, of clinical information which may assist in her future medical care.
§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if, in the light of the representations he has received on 425W the matter, he will withdraw the Abortion (Amendment) Regulations 1976 (S.I., 1976, No. 15).
§ Dr. OwenNo. It was decided to make the Abortion (Amendment) Regulations 1976, following the similarity of views expressed by the Lane Committee, the Merrison Committee on the Regulation of the Medical Profession, and the Select Committee on the Abortion (Amendment) Bill, that the Chief Medical Officer should be empowered to disclose information from the abortion notifications to the President of the General Medical Council. The other change introduced by the new Regulations requires doctors to state whether they have or have not seen and examined the pregnant women to whom their certificates relate. Both the Lane Committee and the Select Committee on the Abortion (Amendment) Bill made recommendations to this end.