General Medical Council Preliminary Proceedings Committee and Professional Conduct Committee (Procedure) Rules Order of Council 1980
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | SI 1980/858 |
1980 No. 858
MEDICAL PROFESSION
The General Medical Council Preliminary Proceedings Committee and Professional Conduct Committee (Procedure) Rules Order of Council 198023rdJune 1980
1stJuly 1980
1stAugust 1980
At the Council Chamber, Whitehall, the 23rd day of June 1980
By the Lords of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council
Whereas in pursuance of paragraphs 1 and 5 of Schedule 4 to the Medical Act 1978(a) the General Medical Council have made the General Medical Council Preliminary Proceedings Committee and Professional Conduct Committee (Procedure) Rules 1980:
And whereas by sub-paragraph (5) of the said paragraph 1 such Rules shall not come into force until approved by order of the Privy Council:
Now, therefore, Their Lordships, having taken the said Rules into consideration, are pleased to approve the same as set out in the Appendix to this Order.
This Order may be cited as the General Medical Council Preliminary Proceedings Committee and Professional Conduct Committee (Procedure) Rules Order of Council 1980, and shall come into operation on 1st August 1980.
N. E. Leigh, Clerk of the Privy Council.
APPENDIX
THE GENERAL MEDICAL COUNCIL PRELIMINARY PROCEEDINGS COMMITTEE AND PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT COMMITTEE (PROCEDURE) RULES 1980
PART I
PRELIMINARY
1. Citation and commencement
2. Interpretation
3. Times and places of meetings of the Committees
(a) 1978 c. 12.
PART II
INITIAL CONSIDERATION OF CASES
4. Appointment of member to conduct initial consideration of cases
5. Allegation as to conviction
6. Allegation as to professional misconduct
7. Furnishing evidence of fitness to practise
8. Invitation to practitioner to appear before the Preliminary Proceedings Committee in certain circumstances
9. Duty to supply rules
10. Reference to Preliminary Proceedings Committee
PART III
PROCEDURE OF THE PRELIMINARY PROCEEDINGS COMMITTEE
11. Determination by Preliminary Proceedings Committee
12. Order for interim suspension or interim conditional registration
13. Further investigations and provisional determination
14. Fresh allegation as to conviction or conduct
15. Preliminary Proceedings Committee to meet in private
16. Non-disclosure of documents or reasons in cases not referred for inquiry
PART IV
INTERMEDIATE PROCEDURES WHERE A CASE IS REFERRED TO THE PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT COMMITTEE
17. Notice of inquiry
18. Postponement of inquiry
19. Cancellation of inquiry
20. Access to documents
21. Notice to produce documents
22. Amendment of charge before the opening of an inquiry
PART V
PROCEDURE OF THE PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT COMMITTEE AT THE FIRST HEARING OF ANY CASE
23. Opening of inquiry
24. Reading of charge and amendment of charge after the opening of an inquiry
25. Cases relating to conviction
26. Character evidence and pleas in mitigation in cases relating to conviction
27. Cases relating to conduct
28. Admission of facts
29. Non-appearance of practitioner in a case relating to conduct
30. Findings of fact
31. Evidence as to circumstances of proven facts and character evidence
32. Pleas in mitigation in cases relating to conduct
33. Finding of serious professional misconduct
34. Determinations of the Committee
35. Order for immediate suspension of registration
36. Announcement of determination
37. Revocation of order for interim suspension or interim conditional registration
38. Alternative procedure in cases of conduct: Postponement of finding of serious professional misconduct
39. Cases relating both to conviction and to conduct
40. Inquiries into charges against two or more practitioners
41. Reference and transfer of cases to the Health Committee
PART VI
RESUMED HEARINGS BY THE PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT COMMITTEE
42. Direction for resumed hearing
43. Notice of resumed hearing
44. New charge at resumed hearing
45. Procedure at resumed hearing
46. Procedure following postponement under rule 38
47. Procedure following postponement under rule 34(3)
48. Procedure where conditional registration had been imposed
49. Procedure where registration has been suspended
50. Announcement of determination at resumed hearing
51. Subsequent application of rules where case is continued
PART VII
APPLICATIONS FOR RESTORATION AFTER ERASURE
52. Procedure for consideration of applications for restoration
PART VIII
GENERAL
53. Adjournment of proceedings
54. Exclusion of public from hearings in certain circumstances
55. Consideration of confidential reports at resumed hearings
56. Evidence
57. Voting
58. Representation of parties
59. Postal service of documents
60. Notes and transcript of proceedings
61. Transitional arrangements
FIRST SCHEDULE
PROVISIONS AS TO MEETINGS OF THE PRELIMINARY PROCEEDINGS COMMITTEE AND OF THE PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT COMMITTEE
SECOND SCHEDULE
FORM OF NOTICE OF AN INQUIRY
THIRD SCHEDULE
STATUTORY DECLARATIONS TO BE MADE BY AN APPLICANT FOR RESTORATION TO THE REGISTER
THE GENERAL MEDICAL COUNCIL PRELIMINARY PROCEEDINGS COMMITTEE AND PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT COMMITTEE (PROCEDURE) RULES 1980
The General Medical Council, in exercise of their powers under paragraphs 1 and 5 of Schedule 4 to the Medical Act 1978, and after consulting with such bodies of persons representing medical practitioners as appeared to the Council to be requisite, as required by those paragraphs, hereby make the following rules:—
PRELIMINARY
Citation and commencement
1. These rules may be cited as the General Medical Council Preliminary Proceedings Committee and Professional Conduct Committee (Procedure) Rules 1980, and shall come into operation on 1st August 1980.
Interpretation
2. In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires:
"the Act" means the Medical Act 1978;
"the Council" means the General Medical Council;
"the President" means the President of the Council and includes any other member appointed under rule 4;
"the Registrar" means the Registrar of the Council;
"the Legal Assessor" means an Assessor appointed by the Council under paragraph 7 of Schedule 4 to the Act;
"the Solicitor" means any Solicitor, or any firm of Solicitors, appointed by the Council or any member of such a firm;
"the Register", in relation to fully or provisionally registered persons, means the Register of Medical Practitioners, and in relation to persons with limited registration means the Register of Medical Practitioners with Limited Registration;
"practitioner" means a person registered (in any way) under the Medical Acts, and references to the practitioner, in relation to any complaint, information or proceedings, are references to the practitioner against whom a conviction has been alleged, or whose conduct has been called into question, as the case may be;
"case relating to conviction" means a case where it is alleged that a practitioner has been convicted, whether while so registered or not, in the United Kingdom or any of the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man of a criminal offence;
"case relating to conduct" means a case where a question arises whether conduct of a practitioner constitutes serious professional misconduct;
"complainant" means a body or person by whom a complaint has been made to the Council;
"medical adviser" means in relation to a "practitioner" as defined in this rule, any other registered medical practitioner (but not more than one) whom the practitioner has consulted as a patient in regard to his own health and whom the practitioner elects to treat as his medical adviser for the purpose of proceedings under these rules;
"party" has the meaning given in paragraph 13 of Schedule 4 to the Act;
"person acting in a public capacity" means an officer of a Regional Area or District Health Authority, Health Board, Common Services Agency or Board of Governors of a hospital, or of a Government Department or local or public authority, or any person holding judicial office, or any officer attached to a Court, or the Solicitor to the Council.
Times and places of meetings of the committees
3. The provisions of the First Schedule to these rules shall have effect as to the times and places of meetings of the Preliminary Proceedings Committee and of the Professional Conduct Committee, and the mode of summoning members.
INITIAL CONSIDERATION OF CASES
Appointment of member to conduct initial consideration of cases
4.—(1) No case shall be considered by the Preliminary Proceedings Committee unless it has first been considered by the member of the Council appointed under this rule and referred by him to that Committee.
(2) Subject to the following paragraph, the Council shall appoint the President under this rule.
(3) If the President proposes to sit either on the Professional Conduct Committee or on the Health Committee, or if for other reasons the President does not wish to undertake the initial consideration of cases under these rules, the President shall then nominate some other member for appointment by the Council under this rule, and references in these rules to the President shall be construed as references to such member.
(4) Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing paragraph, if at any time the President is absent or unable to act, anything authorised or required by these rules to be done by the President may be done by any other member of the Council authorised in that behalf by the President or (if the President be unable to give authority) authorised by the Preliminary Proceedings Committee.
Allegations as to conviction
5.—(1) Where information in writing is received by the Registrar from which it appears to him that a practitioner has been convicted in the United Kingdom or any of the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man of a criminal offence, and the conviction is not of a description excepted from the operation of this rule by or under a direction of the Preliminary Proceedings Committee, the Registrar shall write to the practitioner—
(a) notifying him of the receipt of the information;
(b) informing the practitioner of the date of the next meeting of the Preliminary Proceedings Committee;
(c) inviting the...
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