Every year the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service produces an annual report to parliament.  The latest one for the year ending 2022 was published in July this year.

The report shows  –

* There were 272 Interim Order Tribunals (“IOTs” decide if a doctor’s practice should be restricted while a GMC investigation takes place), of these there were 34 suspensions, 184 doctors had conditions imposed and no action was taken in respect of 54 doctors.

* In 2022 the MPT received 296 referrals for a substantive hearing and the MPT made decisions in 273 cases.  This is out of 350,499 doctors who are on the medical register at the end of 2021. Of those decisions there were 68 doctors were erased from the register, 101 suspended, 18 had conditions imposed, 21 warnings were issued (without a finding of impairment), 1 undertaking was accepted and there were 2 voluntary erasures.  In 58 cases a doctor’s fitness to practise was found not to be impaired and in 4 cases though FTP was found to be impaired no action was taken.  The vast majority of cases, 75.1% to be precise, involved misconduct (as opposed to a doctor’s health or performance).

* Of the doctors appearing at an MPT hearing there is a disproportionate number of men, Asian and Asian British and also doctors who qualified outside of the UK.  That is, statistically speaking the numbers are higher for these groups.

* There were 9 appeals against MPT decisions in 2022, of the 8 heard 2 were successful, 5 were dismissed and 1 was withdrawn.

* As of May 2023 there were 363 tribunal members, 154 were medical members, 92 were lay members and there are 117 legally qualified chairs, 49.5% were women and 23.1% were from an ethnic minority.

* By December 2022 52.9% of hearings took place virtually, 41.2 in person in the hearing centre and 5.9% were a hybrid of the two.  All Interim Orders Tribunals hearings take place virtually.  That continues to this day.

* The MPT is concerned by the number of doctors who do not attend and the number of doctors who attend without legal representation – the numbers are 25.1% and 15.8 respectively.  They cite research stating “there is strong link between serious outcomes and doctors who are not legally represented or do not attend”.

The full 34 page report is available here – https://www.mpts-uk.org/-/media/mpts-documents/mpts-report-to-parliament-2022_pdf-103042718.pdf.  This a brief summary of some of the main points.  We thought you may find it interesting to share a little about the numbers involved in your regulatory environment.  If you have any particular queries about fitness to practice or the Tribunal process please do contact us, we will be glad to help.