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In the recent professional regulatory case of GMC v Bramhall [2021] EWHC 2109 (Admin), the GMC and PSA challenged the decision of MPTS to impose a suspension of five months, on the basis that the sanction was insufficient to maintain public confidence and uphold standards. The underlying conduct was unusual and highly publicized. At the hearing, … Read more

Dad v GDC is another interesting judgment from the Administrative Court (25 May) – the case concerns an appeal by a dentist in respect of proceedings which had arisen from the failure to declare an ongoing investigation within a restoration application.The Court dismissed the appeal and concluded that the relevant form which had been completed … Read more

The recent judgment (24 May) in the case of Rayner v Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust is an interesting professional regulatory case concerning parallel regulatory and trust proceedings. It relates to a healthcare practitioner seeking to continue an injunction restraining his employer from proceeding with his local disciplinary hearing in order to await … Read more

Sexually motivated conduct and ‘common sense’. The Court of Appeal concludes that in the absence of a ‘plausible innocent explanation’, the facts in this case ‘spoke for themselves’. In the recent Court of Appeal judgment (20 May) of Haris v GMC, the Appellant had been granted permission to appeal on the sole ground that the lower … Read more

Following longstanding concerns about fairness within fitness to practise referrals, the GMC has announced (18 May) new targets to ‘eradicate disadvantage and discrimination in medical education and training’ and to ‘eliminate disproportionate complaints from employers about ethnic minority doctors’. The link to the announcement can be found here together with how they propose to tackle … Read more

After the long weekend, the Court of Appeal judgment of Sastry and another v GMC (30 April) returns us gently back to the waters of professional regulation – it provides a helpful reminder of when the Court may be more (or less) likely to defer to a tribunal’s judgement.In one appeal, consideration is given to … Read more

Just a few short weeks following the ‘blockbuster’ judgment of Towuaghantse, we have another professional regulatory judgment on the relationship between denial of an allegation and sanction. The case of Al Nageim v GMC (20 April 2021) relates to multiple allegations of dishonesty as well as ‘dishonesty in knowingly advancing a case of false primary … Read more

GMC changes to triaging guidance in relation to allegations of dishonesty and violence. Whilst these changes were implemented a couple of weeks ago, they are nonetheless interesting and likely to be significance in terms of reducing the number of cases requiring full investigation. In summary, both the threshold guidance and guidance for decision makers have … Read more

This weeks’ flurry of interesting professional regulatory judgments concludes with a further decision from Mostyn J in Bux v GMC (31 March). Whilst the outcome of this unsuccessful appeal is perhaps unsurprising, the key principles underlying actual conflicts of interest, potential conflicts of interest and the duty of disclosure by expert witnesses are helpfully summarised … Read more

Another interesting prof reg judgment from the Administrative Court in the form of Towuaghantse v GMC. In this case the Appellant’s acts and omissions from 2013 were found to have contributed to the death of a baby. The registrant was erased by the MPTS who had concluded that there was a risk of repetition due … Read more