3 August 2010
In the light of the Government’s scrutinizing of all new ventures, the Department of Health has announced that it will be looking into the case for proceeding with work surrounding the Office of the Health Professions Adjudicator (OHPA).
The OHPA was established in law in January of this year, but is not yet operationally active.
It had been hoped that as from April 2011 it would take over from the General Medical Council’s role of adjudicating on fitness to practise matters relating to Doctors and, in due course, take on the adjudication role in relation to other health professionals from the remaining health regulators.
However, having reviewed the case for OHPA, apparently the Government does not yet believe that the creation of another body is the best way forward in terms of adjudication, stating that steps can be taken to strengthen and modernise existing systems and deliver substantially the same benefits as OHPA with the learning from these steps reviewed and, in due course, applied to the other health regulators.
A consultation is currently being formalised, however both OHPA and the GMC have set out their initial response to this view. Walter Merricks, Chair of the OHPA said:
“The establishment of OHPA aimed to enhance public confidence by creating independent adjudication of health professionals. We have also identified changes that could reduce the cost and delay in fitness to practise hearings not only in relation to doctors, but also other health professionals. While we are disappointed at the Government’s provisional view, we intend to play a full part to support the proposed consultation on improving health professional adjudication.”
In contrast Nial Dickson, Chief Executive of the GMC, who fought to retain their adjudication function stated:
“We welcome Anne Milton’s announcement and view the government’s proposal as a sensible way forward. We are keen to contribute to the consultation. The GMC is committed to the concept of independent adjudication and to building on the reforms that we have already implemented. We have also been working closely with OHPA on a range of further changes, which we would want to take forward to develop a more cost-effective model for adjudication in the future.”
The dates for a consultation to consider the issues has yet to be announced.