General Medical Council Complaints System

EDM number 131 in 2008-09, proposed by Mike Hancock on 04/12/2008.
Categorised under the topics of Health staff and professions and Patient rights and complaints.

That this House believes that the General Medical Council (GMC) complaints mechanism fails to comply with standards of fairness and due process required by Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights; observes that the GMC's role in investigating, prosecuting and sentencing falls below the standard required of an independent and impartial tribunal; notes that in practice the GMC represents the interests of parents in cases where doctors suspect abuse; further notes that children themselves have no independent representation to present a doctor's concerns; further believes that no published guidelines appear to guide prosecution decisions and that, as prosecutor, the GMC amends and adds charges in an ad hoc fashion; considers that doctors are uncertain of the allegations they face, compromising their ability to mount a cogent defence; further considers that the GMC calls expert witnesses with clear conflicts of interest in the proceedings who are unrepresentative of mainstream practice or opinion, and that the GMC adopts a populist, punitive, deterrent and disproportionate approach to sentencing; further considers that the GMC's apparently arbitrary admission and exclusion of evidence extends to ignoring the findings of previous investigations into a case conducted by an accused doctor's employer; further believes that the GMC values the public perception and integrity of the profession above individual rights; and further observes that, contrary to basic principles of justice, the GMC appears to assume the guilt of doctors before it, and refuses to acquit when a conviction is impossible, instead finding no realistic prospect of prosecution.

This motion has been signed by a total of 12 MPs.