Regulation of Health and Social Care Professionals Consultation

Suspension
9.92 Nearly all of the regulators have powers to suspend registrants for a specified
period of time. Suspension is often used in cases of serious misconduct or
deficient performance but where for example there has been an acknowledgment
of fault and the registrant has taken steps to mitigate their actions. Unlike the
sanction of erasure, suspension is widely available in health cases.
9.93 Most regulators can suspend a registrant for up to a year, but for others the
period is two or three years. Normally the regulator will have the option of
extending the period of suspension at a review hearing. There will often be a
requirement for a review hearing before the period of suspension ends, in order
for the panel to determine if the individual is fit to return to practice.
9.94 In some cases the original panel will outline measures that the individual should
undertake during their period of suspension, in order to address the areas of
impairment, such as undergoing training. However, formal conditions cannot be
imposed on individuals who are suspended. At the General Medical Council a
Panel can suspend registration indefinitely in certain health cases where the
registrant has been suspended for two or more years.
Conditions
9.95 Most of the regulators have powers to allow a registrant to practise but only
subject to certain conditions. These may restrict the type of work that the
registrant is able to undertake or set out requirements for further training.
Conditions are likely to be imposed in cases involving the registrant’s health,
performance, a single incident or where there is evidence of shortcomings in a
specific area of practice.
9.96 Conditions must be expressed precisely and be workable. 70 The General
Medical Council has developed a “conditions bank” to indicate the appropriate
wording for conditions and to ensure that Panels distinguish between restrictions
on a doctors’ practice and restrictions for their treatment. 71
9.97 There will normally be a review hearing before the period of conditions comes to
an end, to consider whether the registrant is fit to return to unrestricted practice.
Some regulators can review the case early if there is evidence that the registrant
has not complied with conditions.
Financial penalties and cost orders
9.98 A less common sanction available to the regulators is the ability to fine
registrants. Currently this power is available only to the General Dental Council in
relation to companies, and to the General Optical Council. 72
9.99 However, some of the regulators have powers to award costs against a registrant
70 Daraghmeh v General Medical Council [2011] EWHC 2080 (Admin), [2011] All ER (D) 272.
71 General Medical Council, FTP Conditions Bank (2011).
72 Dentists Act 1984, ss 43B and 44 and Opticians Act 1989, s 13H.
181