§ Mr. GardinerTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps the General Medical Council will be required by him to take in order to advise complainants of the availability of judicial review of its decisions. [6967]
§ Ms BlearsNone. In August we published "Modernising Regulation in the Health Professions" in which we have consulted on the functions of the proposed Council for the Regulation of Healthcare Professions. These include a power to make public interest appeals in extreme cases against individual decisions of the regulatory bodies.
§ Mr. GardinerTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of responses to complainants and subsequent notification of decisions the General Medical Council has failed to issue within its own target times for each year since 1997. [6969]
§ Ms BlearsSince July 2000 the General Medical Council has set itself a series of explicit service standards for dealing with fitness to practise complaints. It reports on its performance against these standards each year. It aims to acknowledge all letters promptly and to keep complainants informed of progress but it does not hold separate performance information on these activities.
§ Mr. GardinerTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what provision the General Medical Council is making to fast track complaints against doctors where(a) previous disciplinary action has been taken against them and (b) another complaint is presently being considered by the General Medical Council; [6964]
(2) in how many cases since January 1999 in which disciplinary action was subsequently taken, including admonishment, by the Professional Conduct Committee of the General Medical Council, an interim suspension order was imposed. [6970]
§ Ms BlearsI understand that the chief executive of the General Medical Council wrote to my hon. Friend on 31 August providing the information requested.
§ Mr. GardinerTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what proposals his Department has to ensure that public interest immunity is not a barrier to providing complainants to the General Medical Council with an adequate explanation of the reasons for decisions of the Professional Conduct Committee; [6963]
(2) what proposals his Department has to ensure that the General Medical Council provides complainants with an explanation of the reasons for decisions in disciplinary hearings. [6968]
1342W
§ Ms BlearsThe General Medical Council recognises the importance of providing information to complainants about the reasons for the Professional Conduct Committee's decisions and it does so in all cases.