The group met a total of six times in the last year.  Many of the problems are similar.  But there have been certain notable developments. 

The first is the GMC.  This  body has become progressively more and more anti doctor. More significantly hospital trusts are referring more and more cases of alleged professional misdoing to the GMC whose reaction tends to be an interim order of suspension perhaps followed by some form of professional assessment.   This adds considerably to the stress the doctor is suffering from.  Two lady doctors have resigned from medicine as a result of their treatment by the GMC or hospital trust.

Of particular concern is the development of the GMC conducting a disciplinary hearing in the doctor’s absence and with no legal representation?  Two doctors had medical notes from consultant psychiatrists (including one of a pair of psychiatrists who was appointed by the GMC to assess the doctor’s fitness to attend the disciplinary hearing). A third doctor was also tried in absentia but the reasons for his non-attendance are not known (only that he won a legal case against the GMC because of this).

It was partly for this reason that the attached article appeared in Hospital Doctor.

Racism still abounds within the GMC. and although they have acknowledged  that there is racism in the proceedings  there appears to be little effective  remedy.

The group through the Secretary has complained to Liam Donaldson, with letters to Mrs Blair, the GMC and the BMA about the proposal to reduce the burden of proof to that of balance of probabilities.  IT has been pointed out that this proposal is a breach of the Human Rights Act as well as the case law from Strasbourg. As well as well established legal precedence including Public enquiry and a Royal Commission (the Salmon Enquiry) .

Anxieties are also being expressed about the centralising of all medical records, as these will be available on demand to over 300,000 people.  Confidentiality cannot be guaranteed and it is feared that employers will trawl through an individual’s medical record in an attempt to dismiss a suspended doctor on grounds of ill health-- This is particularly a problem as during a suspension many doctors becoming clinically depressed and at the moment are advised to seek treatment outside the reach of their employer.    These is a wider issue which perhaps the Society may wish to take up and this is patient confidentiality.  With so many have detailed access it would be easy for any unscrupulous person to get hold of an access code. If all the details recorded by a psychiatrist in relation to a patient suddenly become in essence public property this could seriously undermine the practice of psychiatry.

Several doctors have taken their suspension cases to court and have won substantial damages. More are in the pipeline. This has given much encouragement to some of the doctors who are currently suspended.

Over the year there have been some 12 doctors who have contacted the group—two of them are cases that have been going on for years before they contacted the Secretary claiming ignorance of our existence! It is suggested that perhaps we should advertise our web site more extensively than hitherto

The group have also decided to establish their own web site devoted solely to suspended doctors—this they are financing themselves. I envisage that this could be a series of case reports not dissimilar to the long ago attempt to publish a book of experiences.