Supplementary memorandum by the General
Medical Council (OHS 03A)
THE USE OF OVERSEAS DOCTORS IN PROVIDING
OUT-OF-HOURS SERVICES
I would like to thank you and the Committee
for the invitation to give evidence on 11 March and discuss
important issues related to out of hours care. I would also like
to take this opportunity to provide some additional information,
which I have set out below.
INDEMNITY AND
INSURANCE
I would like to clarify our response to Dr Howard
Stoate on indemnity insurance (Question 76). In 2006, the Medical
Act 1983 was amended to include a new section 44C which requires
doctors to hold "adequate and appropriate" insurance
or indemnity to get or maintain GMC registration. This provision
has not yet been brought into force.
The Department of Health (England) has established
a working group, chaired by the former GMC Chief Executive, Finlay
Scott. The group will look at the feasibility and proportionality
of making this legislative change, following feedback from a number
of interested parties.
Currently, all GMC registered doctors have a
professional duty, as set out in the GMC's guidance Good Medical
Practice, to hold adequate indemnity cover: "You must
take out adequate insurance or professional indemnity cover for
any part of your practice not covered by an employer's indemnity
scheme, in your patients' interests as well as your own."
(Paragraph 34)
CORRESPONDENCE WITH
GERMAN AUTHORITIES
ON DR
UBANI
Responding to Dr Taylor (Question 101), I said
that I thought the GMC had written 22 times to the German
authorities in relation to the Dr Ubani case and that we had received
no response. I would like to clarify that we received no response
to our questions or anxieties about Dr Ubani's fitness to practise,
but we did receive replies to acknowledge our correspondence and
to confirm they were taking no action against him.
NON-UK GRADUATES
AND GMC FITNESS
TO PRACTISE
STATISTICS
Dr Stoate asked why doctors who qualified outside
the UK are disproportionately overrepresented in GMC cases (Question
84). It is very difficult to understand why the GMC receives more
fitness to practise queries about non-UK qualified doctors but
we continue to develop our methods for understanding the data
we have about trends of inquiries coming to the GMC. I would like
to add that we have commissioned independent research projects
to understand better the unique challenges faced by this category
of doctor when they start to practice in the UK.
Niall Dickson
Chief Executive
24 March 2010
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