2011 Annual Statistics

Transcription

1 2011 Aual Statistics Fitess to Practise

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3 Itroductio This is the report of the 2011 aual statistics for the Geeral Medical Coucil s (GMC) Fitess to Practise procedures. The report provides data o volumes ad outcomes at each stage of the fitess to practise process for the period of Jauary to December This report is supplemeted by a separately published series of fact sheets o key themes of iterest to fitess to practise such as ethicity, geder, time sice qualificatio, regio of primary medical qualificatio (PMQ), recorded allegatios, ad area of practice (doctor specialty). The GMC is the idepedet regulator for doctors i the UK. Our statutory purpose is to protect, promote ad maitai the health ad safety of the public by esurig proper stadards i the practice of medicie. The Stadards ad Fitess to Practise Directorate is resposible for esurig that we deal firmly, fairly ad speedily with those doctors who fail to maitai the stadards expected of them. This ivolves the ivestigatio of cocers raised about idividual doctors, ad where the ivestigatio calls ito questio the doctor s fitess to practise, the adjudicatio of cases before a fitess to practise pael. We do that by cotrollig etry to the medical register ad settig the educatioal stadards for medical schools. We also determie the priciples ad values that uderpi good medical practice ad we take firm but fair actio where those stadards have ot bee met. Geeral Medical Coucil 01

4 The fitess to practise process This chapter provides a overview of our process, ad explais the key termiology used i this report. Subsequet chapters i this report are structured i accordace with the fitess to practise process to allow the reader to follow the volumes ad outcomes of cases i a liear order. Chart 1 The fitess to practise process Triage Stream 1: 26.5% Stream 2: 17.5% Closed: 56% Case examier Closed Closed with 32.5% advice 38.5% Warig Udertakigs 10% 8% FtP Pael 11% Suspesio 38% Erasure 27% No impairmet 13.5% Coditios 10% Warig 9.5% Udertakigs 0.5% Volutary erasure 0.5% Impairmet o further actio 1% This diagram is based o the 2011 case volumes ad outcomes. The proportios are idicative oly as there is ot ecessarily a liear relatioship betwee volumes ad outcomes i a 12 moth period. We aim to coclude our ivestigatios ad commece hearigs withi 15 moths, therefore a equiry received or triaged i 2011 may ot result i a cocluded ivestigatio or hearig takig place i the same year. Here ad o the followig page we explai the key stages of our process ad our termiology. Equiries A equiry is defied as iformatio received (from a sigle source) that may raise cocers about oe or more doctors fitess to practise. The term perso actig i a public capacity (PAPC) deotes a idividual actig o behalf of a public orgaisatio. The majority of equiries from this source come from health bodies or police forces. 02 Geeral Medical Coucil

5 Triage We aim to assess all equiries withi oe week of receipt. This is commoly referred to as triage. The primary purpose of triage is to determie whether or ot the iformatio received raises a questio about the doctor s fitess to practise. If the iformatio could ever raise such a questio, we will close the equiry. However, if the iformatio raises serious allegatios which i themselves would call ito questio the doctor s fitess to practise, we will carry out a full ivestigatio. This type of ivestigatio is described as Stream 1. If the iformatio received is i itself less serious but would be of cocer if part of a wider patter, we would make equiries with the doctor s employers or cotractors to establish if they have ay wider cocers about the doctor s practice. Oce this iformatio has bee obtaied, we carry out a secod assessmet to decide whether further ivestigatio is required or ot. This process is described as Stream 2. Case examiers At the ed of the ivestigatio ito allegatios agaist a doctor, the case will be cosidered by two seior GMC staff kow as case examiers (oe medical ad oe o-medical). They ca: coclude the case with o further actio coclude the case with advice issue a warig agree udertakigs with doctors refer the case to a fitess to practise pael hearig. pael referral whe: a doctor has bee covicted of a serious offece a doctor refuses to agree to udertakigs a doctor fails to comply with a request for a performace / health assessmet. Ivestigatio Committee There are two distict categories of case cosidered by the committee: case examiers have bee uable to agree o a suitable outcome a doctor has refused to accept a warig ad has elected to have a oral hearig or where the case examiers feel this is appropriate. Iterim orders pael At ay stage of a ivestigatio we may refer the doctor to a iterim orders pael. A iterim orders pael ca susped or restrict a doctor s practice while the ivestigatio cotiues. Fitess to practise pael Our fitess to practise paels hear the cases agaist doctors, decide whether the facts are prove, whether they amout to impaired fitess to practise ad, if so, what, if ay, sactios are appropriate. Impaired fitess to practise hearig outcomes comprise erasure, suspesio, coditios, udertakigs ad impairmet o further actio. I additio to case examier decisios, it is possible for a assistat registrar to refer a case to a pael. A assistat registrar ca make a Geeral Medical Coucil 03

6 Equiries about doctors The umber of equiries about doctors has cotiued to rise i 2011 alogside a rise i equiries from members of the public. Fidigs We received 8,781 equiries i 2011, up from 7,153 i 2010, a icrease of 23%. The aual umber of equiries received has icreased by 3,586 (69%) sice Equiries from members of the public have icreased by 1,140 (25%) sice The umber of equiries received from PAPC has icreased to 1,481 i 2011, up by 6% from 1,395 i The umber previously icreased by 767 betwee 2008 ad 2010, a rise of 122%. The other 1 category, icreased from 1,233 i 2010 to 1,635 i 2011, a 33% rise. 10,000 9,000 8,000 7,000 6,000 5,000 4,000 3,000 2,000 1,000 0 Chart 2 Number of doctors subject to a equiry % 3.5% 3.0% 2.5% 2.0% 1.5% 1.0% 0.5% 0.0% Dr Equiries As % of Dr o register 6,000 5,000 4,000 3,000 2,000 1,000 0 Chart 3 Source of equiries about a doctor s fitess to practise PAPC Member of Public Other 1 The mai types of equiry i the Other category are equiries from public orgaisatios (465 equiries i 2011), doctors (893), ad issues idetified by the GMC through press cuttigs (175) 04 Geeral Medical Coucil

7 Triage decisios The umber of Stream 1 ivestigatios has icreased by 13% i 2011 compared to Fidigs Of the 8,781 triaged, 4,914 (56%) of the equiries were closed with o further actio required. I 2011, most case examier decisios were to close a case or close it with advice. At the same time, the umber of decisios to refer cases to a fitess to practise pael decreased compared to The umber of triage decisios to ivestigate as Stream 1 icreased from 2,066 i 2010 to 2,330 i 2011, a rise of 13%. The umber of triage decisios to ivestigate as Stream 2 icreased from 1,474 i 2010 to 1,537 i 2011, a rise of 4%. We made 1,917 case examier decisios i The proportio of decisios to close or close with advice rose, for the third cosecutive year, from 61% i 2010 to 71% i Chart 4 Triage outcomes ,000 5,000 4,000 3,000 2,000 1,000 0 Stream 1 Stream 2 Closed Geeral Medical Coucil 05

8 Case examier decisios The umber of decisios by case examiers to refer to a pael decreased from 314 i 2010 (20% of all decisios) to 212 i 2011 (11% of all decisios). The umber of decisios by case examiers to recommed udertakigs icreased by 45% from 102 i 2010 to 148 i Chart 5 Number of Case Examier decisios ,400 2,000 1,600 1, Chart 6 Case Examier decisio outcomes % Percetage of Decisios 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Refer to pael Udertakigs Warig Closed with advice Closed 06 Geeral Medical Coucil

9 Ivestigatio committee hearigs The umber of ivestigatio committee hearigs icreased i 2011 ad for the secod year there were fewer warigs issued tha o further actio. Fidigs The umber of cases where a allegatio has bee referred to the ivestigatio committee for a oral hearig has rise by 10% from 29 i 2010 to 32 i I 2011, 10 (31%) warigs were issued by the ivestigatio committee. This is the secod year there were fewer warigs tha o further actio, 22 (69%). Chart 7 Number of ivestigatio committee hearigs Chart 8 Ivestigatio committee hearig outcomes % 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Warig NFA Geeral Medical Coucil 07

10 Fitess to practise pael hearigs The umber of fitess to practise pael hearigs decreased by 26% i 2011 compared to Fidigs 242 fitess to practise pael hearigs took place i 2011 compared to 326 i 2010 a decrease of 26%. 76% of all doctors that appeared before a fitess to practise pael hearig i 2011 were foud to be impaired 2. This is compared to 69% the previous year. A total of 65 doctors (27% of all pael outcomes) were erased from the medical register at a fitess to practise pael i 2011, a similar umber to the previous two years. A further 19 doctors were erased at fitess to practise review hearigs 3. The most commo hearig outcome i 2011 was suspesio (93), accoutig for 38% of all outcomes for doctors Chart 9 Number of fitess to practise pael hearigs Chart 10 Fitess to practise pael hearig outcomes % 40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% Erasure Suspesio Coditios Udertakigs Warig Reprimad Impairmet - o further actio No impairmet Volutary erasure 2 Impaired fitess to practise hearig outcomes comprise erasure, suspesio, coditios, udertakigs, ad impairmet o further actio. 3 A fitess to practise review hearig covees to review a doctor s compliace with restrictios placed o their registratio ad has the power to erase. 08 Geeral Medical Coucil

11 Iterim order pael hearigs There has bee a icrease of 4% i the umber of iterim order pael hearigs i 2011 compared to Fidigs 489 iterim order pael hearigs took place i 2011, a 4% icrease from I 2011, sactios (either suspesio or coditios) were imposed i 81% of hearigs, as opposed to 76% i Chart 11 Number of iterim order pael hearigs Chart 12 Iterim order pael hearig outcomes % 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Suspesio Coditios No order Geeral Medical Coucil 09

12 Aex data used i the charts ad text Data collectio covers data recorded o our case maagemet system from Jauary 2008 to 7 March The publicatio of this documet has bee plaed to complemet our report o the State of Medical Educatio ad Practice The iformatio used for our 2011 statistics was take from the case maagemet system at 08:00 o 7 March 2012 ad was correct at that time. The dyamic ature of fitess to practise casework meas that there may have bee some mior updates to these figures sice the data extract. Table 1: Equiries regardig a doctor s fitess to practise Doctors o register 247, , , ,918 Equiries 5,195 5,773 7,153 8,781 Equiries from PAPC 628 1,030 1,395 1,481 Equiries from members of public 3,569 3,689 4,525 5,665 Equiries from other sources 1,019 1,054 1,233 1,635 The method of coutig equiries chaged i 2009, hece older data may ot always recocile. Other sources comprise public (orgaisatio), doctor, press cuttigs, ad the Idepedet Safeguardig Authority. Table 2: Outcome of triage decisios Stream 1 1,465 1,758 2,066 2,330 Stream 2 1,655 1,494 1,474 1,537 Closed 2,022 2,521 3,613 4,914 Total 5,142 5,773 7,153 8, Geeral Medical Coucil

13 Table 3: Case examier decisios Refer to pael Udertakigs Warig Closed with advice Closed Total 1,297 1,496 1,554 1,917 There were also 54 (36 i 2010) referrals to pael by a assistat registrar. I additio, the case examiers grated 123 (97) doctors volutary erasure from the register. Table 4: Ivestigatio committee outcomes Warig No further actio Total Geeral Medical Coucil 11

14 Table 5: Fitess to practise pael outcomes Erasure Suspesio Coditios Udertakigs Warig Impairmet o further actio 4 5* 4 2 No Impairmet Volutary erasure Total A further 19 doctors were erased at a fitess to practise review pael. * This figure icludes oe outcome of reprimad which is o loger i use Table 6: Iterim order pael outcomes Suspesio Coditios No order Total Geeral Medical Coucil

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16 Website: Telephoe: Geeral Medical Coucil, 3 Hardma Street, Machester M3 3AW This iformatio ca be made available i alterative formats or laguages. To request a alterative format, please call us o or us at publicatios@gmc-uk.org. Published October Geeral Medical Coucil The text of this documet may be reproduced free of charge i ay format or medium providig it is reproduced accurately ad ot i a misleadig cotext. The material must be ackowledged as GMC copyright ad the documet title specified. The GMC is a charity registered i Eglad ad Wales ( ) ad Scotlad (SC037750) GMC/2011AS/1012