The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 269 No 7219 p514
12 October 2002

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CRHCP Regulations 2002 (more)

Supervisors of the health professions must have no record of misconduct

Rules governing the appointment of members of the Council for the Regulation of Health Care Professionals (CRHCP) preclude the appointment of anyone who has ever been guilty of professional misconduct.

This suggests that the Government is taking a tough stance on who is and who is not suitable to rule on regulatory matters and may have implications for the membership of the councils of regulatory bodies themselves. In the past, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's Council has included members who have been found by the Society's Statutory Committee to be guilty of misconduct sufficient to make them unfit to be on the Register of Pharmaceutical Chemists. One was subsequently appointed by the Council as a member of the Statutory Committee itself.

The new Regulations preclude the appointment of members of any profession, not just the health professions, who has been ruled against by any professional licensing body anywhere in the world and would encompass lay members. They also preclude the appointment of anyone who is under investigation anywhere in the world where the outcome has not been finalised.

Further, the instigation of an investigation into the conduct of any sitting member of the CHRCP will lead to that member's immediate suspension from the council. An adverse ruling would lead to that member being removed from the council.

Regulatory bodies, such as the Society, and the general medical, dental and optical councils, currently do not disbar potential council members who have adverse professional disciplinary records. Nor do they have provisions for suspension from membership if any investigations are carried out.

Christine Gray, project manager for the Society's modernisation process, said that these were issues that the Society's Council would have to consider, probably at its December meeting.

The General Dental Council said that candidates for election to its council had to declare any adverse decisions that had affected their registration status at any time and that ballot papers showed these details for each candidate. The General Optical Council does not disqualify people who have adverse professional rulings from membership, but the constitution of the council and its committees is under review.

Because the General Medical Council is a charity, people who are disqualified from acting as charity trustees are disqualified from membership. This covers undischarged bankrupts, disqualified company directors, people convicted of offences involving dishonesty or deception (unless the conviction is spent) and previously disqualified charity trustees. The council is soon to require candidates for election to disclose adverse GMC findings and overseas criminal convictions.

The Council for the Regulation of Health Care Professionals (Appointment, etc) Regulations 2002, SI 2002 No 2376. HM Stationery Office, ISBN 0 11 042821 8, price £2.