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NHS spends millions paying suspended GPs
Ellen Widdup12 May 2009
London NHS trusts are paying out millions of pounds each year on doctors suspended for alleged misconduct.
Figures provided by primary care trusts have revealed that investigations into GPs barred from working can take up to four and a half years while the taxpayer pays them 90 per cent of their wage.
Each case can cost up to £900,000, which includes hiring replacements and pursuing the complaints.
In England, 134 GPs have been suspended over the last three years at a cost of £8.2 million.
They include three doctors in Haringey at a cost of £1.4 million and seven in Newham, east London, who were suspended in 2006 at a cost of £1.1 million.
Today Norman Lamb, health spokesman for the Liberal Democrats, said the doctors' disciplinary system needed to be speeded up so more money was spent on frontline health services and less on paying GPs investigated for their behaviour.
“These figures are scandalous, involve a huge waste of public money and show that the system of pursuing allegations against doctors is failing,” he said.
“The government must initiate an immediate review of the way the disciplinary system works. It's hard to see why any case should take years.”
GPs suspected of misbehaviour can be suspended by the PCT or the General Medical Council (GMC), which regulates doctors. PCTs handle less serious cases and usually have to deal with them within six months. But many are granted permission to take longer.
The GMC pursues more serious cases, including sexual assaults. Any doctor suspended by the GMC receives no pay at all.
Dr John Canning, of the British Medical Association, said: “The doctors' disciplinary system can be quite slow. It needs to be just and both sides need time to prepare. But even bearing that in mind, too many cases take too long.”
The GMC said 94 per cent of its fitness to practise hearings were heard within 15 months.
A spokesperson said: “Our primary concern is ensuring that those on the medical register are fit to practise.”
