Medical Profession (Responsible Officers) Regulations 2010

My Lords, the purpose of the draft Medical Profession (Responsible Officers) Regulations 2010 is to protect patients and to support doctors to improve the quality of care they give. They require certain designated organisations in England, Wales and Scotland to nominate or appoint responsible officers and to support those responsible officers in carrying out their statutory functions. They give responsible officers statutory functions relating to the evaluation of a doctor’s fitness to practise. In England only, responsible officers will be given additional functions relating to monitoring the conduct and performance of doctors. The regulations set out the connections between doctors and the designated organisation relevant for them. Under the regulations, responsible officers will have to be licensed medical practitioners with at least five years’ experience. However, this is a statutory minimum. In practice, organisations will want to appoint senior doctors with experience of the management of other doctors as their responsible officers. The responsibilities of responsible officers relating to the evaluation of fitness to practise include ensuring that the designated body carries out regular appraisals, establishing and implementing procedures to investigate concerns and, where appropriate, referring the doctor to the General Medical Council. Under their duties to evaluate fitness to practise, responsible officers will make recommendations on individual doctors to the General Medical Council. The responsible officer will have to make a recommendation as the basis for revalidation when it is introduced. This will normally be every five years. In England, their additional responsibilities will include identifying any issues arising from information about conduct and performance and ensuring that the designated body takes steps to address any such issues. These functions will enable responsible officers to support doctors to improve the care they give at the earliest opportunity. Most of the statutory functions are activities already undertaken by medical directors and staff. These regulations do not specify who will take on the role of responsible officer; rather they allow organisations to determine how the functions may best be carried out. In the NHS and independent providers, it is likely to be existing medical directors. Except perhaps in the smallest organisations, we would not expect responsible officers to undertake the tasks, such as appraisals and investigations, personally, but they will be responsible for ensuring that they are carried out appropriately. This will involve ensuring that their designated body has sufficient staff who are appropriately trained, whether in undertaking appraisals or in investigating concerns. The regulations also make provision for the appointment of an additional responsible officer where there is a conflict of interest or appearance of bias between a doctor and the responsible officer. The Merits of Statutory Instruments Committee has drawn these regulations to the attention of the House and I have no doubt that in the light of the Motion she has tabled, the noble Baroness, Lady Thornton, will wish to raise certain issues and concerns. I stand ready to address them, but in the mean time, I beg to move. Amendment to the Motion Moved by