GMC judgements deter expert witnesses

18th, April 2008

Paediatricians have said that they are being deterred from acting as expert witnesses because of high profile General Medical Council (GMC) rulings.

A vote of no confidence against the GMCs rulings against paediatricians, was tabled at the Royal College of Paediatricians (RCPCH) and Childrens Health AGM. The RCPCH did not support this fully but said they had 'grave concerns'.

Dr Patricia Hamilton, President, RCPCH said:

"The College continues to have grave concerns over the current GMC procedures in child protection. This amended motion was passed by the AGM, but still has to be taken to Council for a final decision. We look forward to continuing to work with the GMC to resolve these issues."

A GMC spokesperson put the concerns into perspective saying,

"Our critics are trying to create the impression that the GMC is intent on unfairly persecuting paediatricians involved in child protection work. Northing could be further from the truth; and by painting a misleading picture our critics risk creating or adding to the very problem they say they wish to resolve.

"It is extremely rare for a paediatrician to appear before a panel in connection with child protection work. Since 2004, panels have considered more than 600 cases. Only two could reasonably be said to be have been about paediatricians involved in child protection work."

Finlay Scott, Chief Executive, GMC, was interviewed on BBC Radio 4’s PM Programme and said:
"Since April 2006 we’ve received more than 10,000 inquiries or complaints about doctors of all specialities. We’ve investigated all of those 10,000 and only seven of them – seven out of 10,000, that is – were about paediatricians connected with child protection work.

"And following our investigation all of them were concluded without action by us or referral for a public hearing. So it simply isn’t borne out by the evidence that we’re engaged in a reckless campaign against paediatricians – in fact, quite the reverse is true.”

GMC judgements deter expert witnesses

Paediatricians have said that they are being deterred from acting as expert witnesses because of high profile General Medical Council (GMC) rulings.

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