§ Mr. Laurence RobertsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many(a) NHS hospital doctors, (b) NHS consultants and (c) NH S general practitioners are suspended on disciplinary grounds; and if he will make a statement. [154255]
§ Mr. Hutton[holding answer 10 February 2004]: Discipline for National Health Service trust clinicians is a matter for local managers and disciplinary action will take a variety of forms, NHS trusts are not required to collect this information and it is not collected centrally.
Primary care trusts (PCTs) must notify the Family Health Services Appeal Authority (Special Health Authority) when they suspend or lift a suspension from a general medical practitioner. Thirty GPs are currently suspended by PCTs.
§ Mr. Laurence RobertsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what the average time taken to(a) investigate and (b) resolve cases regarding the suspension of NHS (i) hospital doctors, (ii) consultants and (iii) general practitioners was in the latest year for which figures are available; what percentage of those investigations found in favour of (A) those making the complaint and (B) the person suspended; and if he will make a statement; [154257]
(2) what the total cost is in (a) salaries and national insurance contributions and (b) other costs arising from (i) NHS hospital doctors, (ii) NHS consultants and (iii) NHS general practitioners currently suspended; and if he will make a statement. [154256]
§ Mr. Hutton[holding answer 10 February 2004 ]: This information is not held centrally
§ Mr. Laurence RobertsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the procedures for investigating the cases of suspended NHS hospital doctors, consultants and general practitioners. [154258]
§ Mr. Hutton[holding answer 10 February 2004]: The Department issued a mandatory framework, (HSC 2003/ 012) Maintaining High Professional standards in the Modern NHS, for the handling of concerns about doctors and dentists employed in the National Health Service, on 29 December 2003. The procedures a primary care trust must follow are set out in the NHS (General Medical Services) Regulations 1992, as amended; the NHS (General Medical Services Supplementary List) Regulations 2001, as amended; and the NHS (Personal Medical Services) (Services List) and the (General Medical Services Supplementary List) and (General Medical Services) Amendment Regulations 2003.
§ Mr. Laurence RobertsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement about the kinds of complaints which cause NHS hospital doctors, consultants and general practitioners to be suspended. [154259]
§ Mr. Hutton[holding answer 10 February 2004]: Under the Restriction of Practice and Exclusion from Work Directions 2003, formal exclusion of one or more 278W clinicians must be used only where there is a need to protect the interests of patients or other staff pending the outcome of a full investigation of: allegations of misconduct, concerns about the lack of capability or poor performance; or the presence of the practitioner in the workplace is likely to hinder the investigation.
Full consideration should be given to whether the practitioner could continue in or (in cases of immediate exclusion) return to work in a limited capacity or in an alternative, possibly non-clinical role, pending the resolution of the case.
Regulations permit primary care trusts to suspend general medical practitioners from their medical, supplementary medical or services lists if they consider this is necessary to protect patients or is otherwise in the public interest. This is an interim measure pending the outcome of regulatory body or criminal investigation, or while they consider serious matters which may lead to the practitioner's removal on suitability, efficiency or fraud grounds.