Complaints and Disciplinary Inquiries

Complaints Against Doctors

What sort of action will the Medical Council take?

The law gives us two ways to tackle problems with doctors. The action we take will depend on what the evidence tells us about the doctor in question. These are our two procedures.

• The disciplinary procedures allow us to deal with cases where a doctor has been convicted of a criminal offence, or has done something which could be seen as professional misconduct. This is behaviour which calls into question whether a doctor should be allowed to continue to practise medicine.
• The health procedures give us a way to handle problems where serious illness makes a doctor a danger to patients or colleagues. These cases usually involve mental illness, alcohol abuse or some form of addiction.

It is our responsibility to decide what procedure to use. We will choose the best way to help us deal with the problem or complaint you have reported. Whatever action we take in a case, our first concern is to protect patients.