CHRE Performance review report 2011-12 - Professional Standards ...

The development of guidance for registrants on the requirement to maintain
adequate and appropriate indemnity insurance.
A review of the information that the GMC collects, retains and publishes about
registered doctors.
Fitness to practise
12.12 The GMC continues to meet the Standards of Good Regulation for fitness to
practise. It has maintained an effective, transparent, proportionate and secure
fitness to practise process, whilst undertaking enhancement work. During
2011/2012 the GMC has demonstrated its compliance with the standards by:
Improving its customer service and enhancing the support available to witnesses
and doctors prior to and during fitness to practise panel hearings
A customer service project has been initiated to review and improve how
complainants access the GMC’s fitness to practise process and the GMC’s
communication with them. The project will include improving accessibility for
complainants with disabilities, and working with complainant advocacy groups
to improve their knowledge of the GMC. The GMC is also carrying out a
survey of complainants and registrants in order to establish a baseline for its
measurement of satisfaction with its customer service. We welcome the
GMC’s continued focus on making its processes accessible.
The GMC has extended its witness support programme to include witnesses
who are called to give evidence by the registrant, as well as those called to
give evidence by the GMC. A needs assessment has been introduced for
witnesses who are referred to the witness support service. The GMC plans to
extend this to witnesses generally within the fitness to practise process. It has
reviewed its expenses policy in order to improve provision for witnesses with
caring responsibilities and to expedite payment. It has also provided training
for its fitness to practise panellists about the aims of the witness support
programme. These activities should ensure that witnesses are bettersupported
to participate in fitness to practise hearings.
Reviewing its processes for dealing with health cases in order to ensure that they
are proportionate and fair, whilst protecting the public from any potential risk
The GMC has launched a microsite named ‘Health Matters’ which is intended
to provide information about how it deals with health cases. The GMC has
taken various measures to improve its performance in this area, including:
revising the guidance that GMC decision-makers use in assessing risk in
health cases, with the aim of improving the consistency and transparency of
their decisions; and introducing a health assessment template report together
with a process for quality assurance of such reports. The GMC is in the
process of commissioning research to improve its knowledge about the
outcomes for doctors who have been through the fitness to practise process
as a result of their ill-health.
41