§ Mr. AshleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will set up an independent committee to investigate the way in which the General Medical Council deals with complaints against doctors and to make recommendations for the future; and if he will include on the committee representatives from his own Department, the Ombudsman's office, the Lord Chancellor's office, the Association of Community Health Councils, the Patients Association and the Consumers' Association.
§ Mr. MellorThe GMC is an independent statutory body. In 1987 it established a working party to review the procedures of the council in relation to disciplinary cases in which it is alleged that a doctor has seriously neglected or disregarded his professional responsibilities to patients. The GMC sought evidence from organisations representing patients and the health professions.
We have no plan to set up a separate independent committee.
§ Mr. AshleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the current membership of the General Medical Council; how many members are(a) elected doctors and (b) lay people; and if he will take steps to increase the number of lay people on the General Medical Council so that there is no majority of elected doctors.
§ Mr. MellorThe GMC has 50 medically qualified elected members and 13 nominated members of which 11 are lay members. In addition there are 34 appointed members who are medically qualified.
The Medical Act 1983 provided that there should be a majority of elected members over other members. We have no plans to change the legislation.
§ Mr. AshleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will take steps to require the General Medical Council to deal with all complaints referred to it rather than rely on its present policy of first requiring a National Health Service investigation that establishes that there is a serious case.
§ Mr. MellorNo. Under the provisions of the Medical Act 1983 the GMC is empowered to consider and76W determine cases of serious professional misconduct in whatever way it considers appropriate. I understand that the GMC has no general policy of referring complaints to the relevant NHS authority but that each case is looked at on its merits. However, where appropriate the council will advise complainants if a matter appears suitable for investigation by the NHS.
§ Mr. AshleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what information about medical complaints made to the General Medical Council regarding doctors working in(a) private medicine, (b) the National Health Service, (c) the prison medical service, (d) the forces medical service, is routinely passed on to his Department; in the last year for which figures are available, how many such complaints were received by the General Medical Council; and how many were rejected by (i) General Medical Council staff, (ii) the preliminary screener, (iii) the preliminary proceedings committee, (iv) the professional conduct or health committees.
§ Mr. MellorInformation at this level of detail is not routinely passed to the Department. The council publishes a summary of information in its annual report, copies of which are in the Library.
§ Mr. AshleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will require the General Medical Council to adopt identical procedures for handling all the medical complaints it receives, regardless of whether they concern doctors operating in the National Health Service, in private medicine or in the prison or forces medical services.
§ Mr. MellorI understand that the General Medical Council adopts identical procedures in respect of all registered doctors.
§ Mr. AshleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will take steps to ensure that the General Medical Council involves lay people in every stage of its disciplinary procedures.
§ Mr. MellorIt is for the General Medical Council to determine its procedures, but there are lay members on each General Medical Council committee which considers cases in which a question of serious professional misconduct arises.
§ Mr. AshleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will take steps to ensure that all complainants to the General Medical Council are kept fully informed of any action that is taken.
§ Mr. MellorI understand that the General Medical Council routinely informs complainants of the action taken to deal with their complaint.
§ Mr. AshleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will take steps to ensure that transcripts are made of all hearings before the professional conduct committee of the General Medical Council, and that these are made available to all interested parties at reasonable cost.
§ Mr. MellorThe GMC is required to arrange that a shorthand writer is appointed to take notes of hearings before the professional conduct committee. The solicitor to the council is required to provide on request a transcript of those parts of the proceedings at which the parties are entitled to be present. The charges levied for such transcripts are a matter for the GMC.
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§ Mr. AshleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will take steps to ensure that the General Medical Council treats the falsification of a patient's notes as a matter of serious misconduct.
§ Mr. MellorThe 1987 annual report of the GMC refers to a statement approved by the council on this matter. The council considers deliberate falsification of case notes to be unethical and a doctor so doing is liable to disciplinary proceedings if reported to the council.
§ Mr. AshleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many doctors with qualifications obtained only from other European Economic Community countries have been registered by the General Medical Council; what proportion this is of all registered doctors; and, in the past five years, what has been the rate of change of applications for registration from European Economic Community trained doctors.
§ Mr. MellorWe have figures only for the period June 1976 to December 1987 in which the GMC registered 3,301 doctors who obtained their qualifications in other EC states. We do not have information on how many have taken up practice or remained on the register and this figure cannot be directly compared with the total of 136,959 doctors registered.
The figures for EC doctors registered in the past five years and the rates of change are given in the table.
Registrations 1per cent. 1983 325 + 40 1984 300 - 8 1985 332 + 11 1986 443 + 33 1987 995 + 125 1 Increase/decrease on previous year.
§ Mr. AshleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many doctors with qualifications obtained only from countries outside the European Economic Community have been registered by the General Medical Council; what proportion this is of all registered doctors; and, in the past five years, what has been the rate of change of applications for registration from non-European Economic Community trained doctors.
§ Mr. MellorI regret that we do not have information on the total number of doctors on the medical register who qualified outside the European Community. Since 1980 a total of 21,596 such doctors have been registered. We do not have information on how many took up practice or remained on the register and this figure cannot be directly compared with the total of 136,959 doctors registered at the end of 1987.
The number of overseas doctors registered in the last five years and the rates of change are given in the table.
Year Registrations Percentage1 1983 1,996 -11 1984 2,052 +3 1985 1,991 -3 1986 1,955 -2 1987 2,151 +10 1 Increase/decrease on previous year.
§ Mr. AshleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what provision there is for the General Medical Council or78W any other body to ensure that all doctors trained in other parts of the European Economic Community or in non-European Economic Community countries meet standards of professional training equivalent to those laid down by the royal colleges.
§ Mr. MellorUnder the terms of the Medical Act 1983 the General Medical Council accepts for registration the primary qualifications laid down in EC directives for recognition within member states. The Act also specifies that doctors from non-EC countries must have qualifications which the council can accept as equivalent to those required for United Kingdom registration. The General Medical Council also has a general function to assess which postgraduate EC qualifications are equivalent to United Kingdom counterparts. There are no equivalent formal provisions for doctors who have obtained postgraduate qualifications in non EC-countries, but the medical royal colleges are considering ways of assessing the post graduate qualifications of non-EC doctors applying under their sponsorship schemes.
§ Mr. AshleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health in the past five years, whether the General Medical Council has provided him with information regarding the cases that have come before their professional conduct committees; and whether any of these originated from an individual's complaint.
§ Mr. MellorThe GMC routinely notifies the Department of those cases heard by the professional conduct committee which result in a sanction affecting the doctors registration.
The minutes of the professional conduct committee are published by the GMC and indicate whether a case originates from an individual complaint.