Following the news that the GMC continues to appeal MPTS verdicts despite the recommendations made by the Williams Review and the outpouring of concern from doctors following the Bawa-Garba case, Treasurer Dr Rinesh Parmar spoke to GP Online.
“Campaign group The Doctors’ Association UK (DAUK), who last month called for an investigation into the GMC’s ‘aggressive pursuit’ of Dr Bawa-Garba, said the regulator had used its right to appeal ‘in every case to impose harsher conditions or sanctions on doctors’, adding that the GMC has ‘failed to appropriately reflect on its ongoing use of appeals’.
Doctors’ confidence
Dr Rinesh Parmar, DAUK treasurer, said: ‘Doctors’ confidence in their regulator the GMC has been severely damaged in the wake of the Bawa-Garba case. This [is] evident with thousands of doctors signing letters to the GMC throughout the case and following Dr Bawa-Garba’s appeal.
‘The actions of the GMC during the case and its desire to continue with these appeals further damages the relationship between doctors and their regulator. The GMC is seen as an organisation that is unable to appropriately reflect on its actions, learn from mistakes and remediate going forwards when seeking to impose harsher conditions to those determined by an independent tribunal.
‘DAUK will be calling on the government to confirm when it will be upholding the recommendations of the Williams review and stripping the GMC of its right of appeal.’”
