The Medical Council has seen a rise in the number of serious cases it is dealing with in recent years.
This in turn has resulted in an increase in the number of referrals to Fitness to Practise, as well as an increase in the number of cases considered pursuant to section 60 of the Medical Practitioners Act 2007, (i.e. cases where the Council must consider whether to make an application to the High Court to suspend a doctor’s registration if there is an immediate risk to the public).
Serious cases are by their nature more complex which require extensive investigation and may have concurrent criminal proceedings in some instances. The nature of serious cases adds to the number of investigative steps required, and in turn the time required to investigate.
In order to deal with this increase in cases the Medical Council has added additional resources to its Complaints and Investigations Directorate in 2023 and 2024.
Please see Table 1 and Table 2 set out below for the respective timelines for the Preliminary Proceedings Committee (PPC) and Fitness to Practise (FTP) stages.
Table 1 – PPC Stage
Average and median times (in months) for the making of an initial determination by the Preliminary Proceedings Committee (PPC)
|
Year
|
Average time that elapses between the receipt of a complaint by the Medical Council and the making of an initial determination by the PPC or CEO
|
Median time that elapses between the receipt of a complaint by the Medical Council and the making of an initial determination by the PPC or CEO
|
|
2022 (279 cases were determined)
|
12 months
|
16 months
|
|
2023(265 cases were determined)
|
13 months
|
10 months
|
|
2024(312 cases were determined)
|
13 months
|
9 months
|
Table 2 – FTP Stage
Average and median times (in months) at the Fitness to Practise (FTP) stage.
|
|
Year
|
Average length of time that the FTPC stage takes
|
Median length of time that the FTPC stage takes
|
|
|
2022
|
23.5 months
|
20 months
|
|
|
2023
|
29 months
|
21 months
|
|
|
2024
|
22 months
|
24 months
|
