Statutory Instrument 2000 No. 1803

The Medical Act 1983 (Amendment) Order 2000

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STATUTORY INSTRUMENTS

2000 No. 1803
MEDICAL PROFESSION
The Medical Act 1983 (Amendment) Order 2000

	Made	12th July 2000
	Coming into force	3rd August 2000

At the Court at Buckingham Palace, the 12th day of July 2000
Present,
The Queen's Most Excellent Majesty in Council
Whereas a draft of this Order in Council has been approved by a resolution of each House of Parliament in accordance with section 62(9) of the Health Act 1999[1];

     Now, therefore, Her Majesty, in exercise of the powers conferred upon Her by section 126(4) of the National Health Service Act 1977[2] and section 60 of the Health Act 1999 and of all other powers enabling Her in that behalf, is pleased, by and with the advice of Her Privy Council, to order, and it is thereby ordered, as follows:

Citation, commencement and interpretation
     1. - (1) This Order may be cited as the Medical Act 1983 (Amendment) Order 2000 and shall come into force on 3rd August 2000.

    (2) In this Order, "the Act" means the Medical Act 1983[3].

Amendment of the Act
     2. The Act shall be amended in accordance with articles 3 to 16 of this Order.

Amendment of section 1
     3. In section 1(3)[4] (committees of the General Medical Council) -

Insertion of sections 35A and 35B
4. After section 35 there shall be inserted -

" General Council's power to require disclosure of information

35A.

- (1) For the purpose of assisting the General Council or any of their committees in carrying out functions in respect of professional conduct, professional performance or fitness to practise, a person authorised by the Council may require -

who in his opinion is able to supply information or produce any document which appears relevant to the discharge of any such function, to supply such information or produce such a document.

(2) As soon as is reasonably practicable after the relevant date, the General Council shall require, from a practitioner in respect of whom a decision mentioned in subsection (3) has been made, details of any person -

(3) For the purposes of this section and section 35B the relevant date is -

the date of the decision in question.

    (4) Nothing in this section shall require or permit any disclosure of information which is prohibited by or under any other enactment.

    (5) But where information is held in a form in which the prohibition operates because the information is capable of identifying an individual, the person referred to in subsection (1) may, in exercising his functions under that subsection, require that the information be put into a form which is not capable of identifying that individual.

    (6) Subsection (1) shall not apply in relation to the supplying of information or the production of any document which a person could not be compelled to supply or produce in civil proceedings before the court (within the meaning of section 38).

    (7) For the purposes of subsection (4), "enactment" includes an enactment comprised in, or in an instrument made under, an Act of the Scottish Parliament.

    (8) For the purposes of this section and section 35B, a "practitioner" means a fully registered person, a provisionally registered person or a person registered with limited registration.

Notification and disclosure by the General Council
     35B. - (1) As soon as is reasonably practicable after the relevant date, the General Council shall notify the following of the making of a decision mentioned in section 35A(3) in respect of a practitioner -

(a) the Secretary of State, the Scottish Ministers and the National Assembly for Wales; and

(b) any person in the United Kingdom of whom the General Council are aware -

(2) The General Council may disclose to any person any information relating to a practitioner's professional conduct, professional performance or fitness to practise which they consider it to be in the public interest to disclose.".

Amendment of section 36
5. In section 36[5] (professional misconduct and criminal offences) -

Amendment of section 36A
     6. In section 36A(2)[6] (professional performance), for ", is judged by the Committee" there shall be substituted "or under section 41A by the Interim Orders Committee or the Committee on Professional Performance, is judged by the Committee on Professional Performance".

Amendment of section 37
     7. In section 37(2)[7] (unfitness to practise through illness etc), for "under section 42 below by the Preliminary Proceedings Committee" there shall be substituted "under section 41A by the Interim Orders Committee".

Amendment of section 40
     8. In section 40[8] (appeals) -

(b) in subsection (3), for "or 39(2)" there shall be substituted, ", 39(2), 41(7) or 45(7)";

(c) in subsection (4), the word "or" after paragraph (b) shall be omitted and after paragraph (c) there shall be added the following paragraphs -

Amendment of section 41
9. In section 41 (restoration of names to the register) -

(a) in subsection (1), for "subsection (2)" there shall be substituted "subsections (2) and (5)";

(b) in subsection (2)(a), for "ten months" there shall be substitued "five years";

(c) in subsection (2)(b), for "ten months" there shall be substituted "twelve months";

(d) after subsection (4) there shall be added -

    " (5) Before determining whether to give a direction under subsection (1), the Professional Conduct Committee shall require an applicant for restoration to provide such evidence as they direct as to one or more of his good character, professional competence and health; and they shall not give such a direction if that evidence does not satisfy them.

    (6) Where, during the same period of erasure, a second or subsequent application for the restoration of a name to the register, made by or on behalf of the person whose name has been erased, is unsuccessful, the Professional Conduct Committee may direct that his right to make any further such applications shall be suspended indefinitely.

    (7) Where the Professional Conduct Committee give a direction under subsection (6), the Registrar shall without delay serve on the person in respect of whom it has been made a notification of the direction and of his right to appeal against it in accordance with section 40.

    (8) Any person in respect of whom a direction has been given under subsection (6) may, after the expiration of three years from the date on which the direction was given, apply to the Professional Conduct Committee for that direction to be reviewed by the Committee and, thereafter, may make further applications for review; but no such application may be made before the expiration of three years from the date of the most recent review decision.".

Insertion of sections 41A and 41B
10. After section 41 there shall be inserted -

" Interim Orders

41A.

- (1) Where the Interim Orders Committee are satisfied that it is necessary for the protection of members of the public or is otherwise in the public interest, or is in the interests of a fully registered person, for the registration of that person to be suspended or to be made subject to conditions, the Committee may make an order -

(2) Subject to subsection (9), where the Interim Orders Commitee have made an order under subsection (1), the Committee -

(3) Where an interim suspension order or an order for interim conditional registration has been made in relation to any person under any provision of this section (including this subsection), the Interim Orders Committee, the Professional Conduct Committee, the Health Committee or the Committee on Professional Performance may, subject to subsection (4) -

    (4) No order under subsection (1) or (3)(b) to (d) shall be made by any Committee in respect of any person unless he has been afforded an opportunity of appearing before the Committee and being heard on the question whether such an order should be made in his case; and for the purposes of this subsection a person may be represented before the Committee by counsel or a solicitor, or (if rules made under paragraph 1 of Schedule 4 to this Act so provide and he so elects) by a person of such other description as may be specified in the rules.

    (5) If an order is made under any provision of this section the Registrar shall without delay serve a notification of the order on the person to whose registration it relates.

    (6) The General Council may apply to the court for an order made by the Interim Orders Committee under subsection (1) or (3) to be extended, and may apply again for further extensions.

    (7) On such an application the court may extend (or further extend) for up to 12 months the period for which the order has effect.

    (8) In this section, references to an interim suspension order and an order for interim conditional registration include such an order as so extended.

    (9) For the purposes of subsection (2) the first review after the court's extension of an order made by the Interim Orders Committee or after a replacement order made by the Interim Orders Committee under subsection (3)(c) or (d) shall take place -

(10) Where an order has effect under any provision of this section, the court may -

and the decision of the court under any application under this subsection shall be final.

    (11) While a person's registration in the register is suspended by virtue of an interim suspension order under this section he shall be treated as not being registered in the register notwithstanding that his name still appears in the register.

    (12) This section applies to a provisionally registered person and to a person registered with limited registration whether or not the circumstances are such that he falls within the meaning in this Act of the expression "fully registered person".

    (13) In this section "the court" has the same meaning as in section 38.

Interim orders made by committees other than the Interim Orders Committee
     41B. - (1) This section applies where the Professional Conduct Committee, the Committee on Professional Performance or the Health Committee have made an order under section 41A(3)(c) or (d).

    (2) Subject to subsections (3) and (4), any Committee referred to in subsection (1) may -

(a) do any of the things referred to in section 41A(3)(a) to (d) in relation to the order; and

(b) before the expiry of the order, extend it or further extend it.

    (3) Subsection (2)(b) applies equally to a replacement order made by one of those Committees by virtue of section 41A(3)(c) or (d) as applied by subsection (2)(a).

    (4) An order may not be extended under this section for more than three months at a time.

    (5) Subsections (5) and (10) to (13) of section 41A apply for the purposes of this section as they apply for the purposes of that section.

    (6) For the purposes of rules made under paragraph 1 of Schedule 4 for the Committees referred to in subsection (1), "proceedings" in that paragraph includes proceedings under this section.".

Amendment of section 42
11. In section 42 (preliminary proceedings as to professional misconduct and unfitness to practise) for subsections (3) to (8)[9] there shall be substituted -

Amendment of section 43
12. In section 43[10] (proceedings before the Professional Conduct, Assessment Referral, Professional Performance, Health and Preliminary Proceedings Committees), after "before" there shall be inserted "the Interim Orders Committee,".

Amendment of section 45
13. In section 45 (disciplinary provisions affecting practitioners who render services while visiting the United Kingdom -

(a) in subsection (3)(a), for "ten months" there shall be substituted "five years";

(b) in subsection (3)(b), for "ten months" there shall be substituted "twelve months";

(c) after subsection (4) there shall be added -

    " (5) Before determining whether to terminate a prohibition under subsection (3), the General Council shall require the person applying for its termination to provide such evidence as they direct as to one or more of his good character, professional competence and health; and they shall not terminate the prohibition if that evidence does not satisfy them.

    (6) Where, during the same period of prohibition, a second or subsequent application for termination of the prohibition, made by or on behalf of a person on whom the prohibition has been imposed, is unsuccessful, the General Council may direct that his right to make any further such applications shall be suspended indefinitely.

    (7) Where the General Council give a direction under subsection (6), the Registrar shall without delay serve on the person in respect of whom it has been made a notification of the direction and of his right to appeal against it in accordance with section 40.

    (8) Any person in respect of whom a direction has been given under subsection (6) may, after the expiration of three years from the date on which the direction was made, apply to the General Council for that direction to be reviewed by the General Council and, thereafter, may make further applications for review; but no such application may be made before the expiration of three years from the date of the most recent review decision.".

Amendment of section 47
14. In section 47(3)[11] (appointments not to be held except by fully registered practitioner), for "section 42" there shall be substituted "section 41A".

Amendment of Part III of Schedule 1
15. In Part III of Schedule 1[12] (constitution of committees of the General Council -

The Interim Orders Committee

19A.

Subject to the power of the Committee under paragraph 25 to co-opt members, the Interim Orders Committee shall be constituted as provided by the General Council by rules under this paragraph.";

(b) in each of paragraphs 20, 21, 21A, 21B and 22, at the beginning there shall be inserted "Subject to the power of the Committee under paragraph 25 to co-opt members,";

(c) in paragraph 23, after "who sits as a member of" there shall be inserted "the Interim Orders Committee,";

(d) after paragraph 23 there shall be inserted the following paragraph -

" 23A. Rules under paragraph 19A above shall secure that a person who sits as a member of the Preliminary Proceedings Committee, the Assessment Referral Committee, the Professional Conduct Committee, the Committee on Professional Performance or the Health Committee shall not sit as a member of the Interim Orders Committee in any subsequent proceedings on that case.";

(e) in paragraph 24, after "paragraph" there shall be inserted "19A,";

(f) for paragraph 25(2) there shall be substituted the following -

" (2) A Committee of the General Council may, if authorised to do so by the General Council, co-opt such persons (whether or not members of the Council) as the Committee think fit.".

Amendment of Schedule 4
16. In Schedule 4[13] (proceedings before the fitness to practice committees) -

(c) in paragraph 1(2B)(b), for "the proceedings", where it first appears, there shall be substituted "proceedings";

(d) in each of sub-paragraphs (1), (2) and (3) of paragraph 2, after "proceedings before" there shall be inserted "the Interim Orders Committee,";

(e) in paragraph 3, after "several sittings of" there shall be inserted "the Interim Orders Committee,";

(f) in paragraph 7(1), after "purpose of advising" there shall be inserted "the Interim Orders Committee,";

(g) in paragraph 7(4), after "proceedings before" there shall be inserted "the Interim Orders Committee,";

(h) in paragraph 8(1), for "or 42(5) or (6C)" there shall be substituted ", 41(7), 41A(5), 42(3) or 45(7) or by virtue of section 41B(5)";

(i) after paragraph 13 there shall be inserted the following paragraph -

14.

Transitional Provision and Saving
     17. - (1) Any interim suspension order or order for interim conditional registration made prior to the date on which this Order comes into force which is in force immediately prior to that date shall, subject to the provisions of article 18, continue in force.

    (2) In any case where erasure under section 41 of the Act or the imposition of a prohibition under section 45 of the Act has taken place prior to the date on which this Order comes into force, and an application for restoration of a name to the register or, as the case may be, for termination of a prohibition, is made on or after the date on which this Order comes into force, paragraphs (b) and (c) of article 9 or, as the case may be, paragraphs (a) and (b) of article 13, shall not have effect in relation to that application.

Power to make rules dealing with transitional cases
     18. - (1) In respect of any case where -