The case of Bradshaw v General Medical Council [2010] EWHC 1296 (Admin) (04 June 2010) demonstrates the difficult balancing act regulators find themselves in when deciding whether to apply for an interim suspension order on public interest grounds.

 

Dr Bradshaw was employed as a medical officer by the Civil Aviation Authority (“CAA”).  He was suspended by the CAA pending investigation into a number of allegations of misconduct.  During that investigation he resigned.  The investigation concluded that had Dr Bradshaw still been employed by the CAA he would have been dismissed without notice.  He declined the offer of an appeal.

 

On 17 December 2009 the CAA notified the Fitness to Practise Directorate of the GMC of the conclusions of the Disciplinary Hearings Manager and specified matters of particular concern.

 

The matter was referred to the Interim Orders Panel (“IOP”).  The main allegations against Dr Bradshaw were:  that he had made allegations of misconduct against a Dr J (with whom he was said to be having a relationship) knowing them to be false and in doing so lied to the CAA;  that he had lied to Dr J on numerous occasions and in numerous respects with the intention of perverting the course of the investigation;  that he had fabricated and altered original documents in order to discredit Dr J and another so as to undermine their testimony against him;  that he had abused CAA’s sickness absence procedures by claiming he was sick when he was in fact fit for work;  that he had breached the CAA’s code of conduct by offering or promising to take steps to procure CAA’s endorsements for glasses in return for a substantial share in the venture.

 

The panel found that it is necessary for the protection of members of the public, in the public interest and your own interests to suspend Dr Bradshaw.  The panel was satisfied that there may be impairment of your fitness to practise which poses a real risk to members of the public or which may adversely affect the public interest.  The panel particularly noted that the allegation against him related to his honesty and probity.  The panel considered the issue of proportionality and balanced the interests of the doctor and the risk to the public but concluded that this is a case which involves allegations that you made false allegations against a colleague, lied to an investigation and fabricated evidence, and is one of the relatively rare cases in which an order of interim suspension is necessary.

 

On appeal the Administrative Court considered the relevant yardstick to apply in the case of suspension on public interest grounds.  It was common ground that suspension to protect members of the public could be done only if it was necessary.  There was no such qualification on the public interest limb.  In Shiekh v GDC [2007] GDC EWHC 2972 (Admin) Davis J thought that if the public interest was to be invoked in this context under the statute then that to his mind did at least carry some implication of necessity and certainly at least carried with it the implication of desirability..  He felt that in the ordinary case at least necessity was an appropriate yardstick and that was so because of reasons of proportionality.  The panel must consider very carefully the proportionality of their measure (weighing the significance of any harm to the public interest in not suspending the doctor against the damage to him by preventing him from practising).  It was the view of Davis J that it was likely to be a relatively rare case where a suspension order would be made on an interim basis on the ground that it was in the public interest.

 

His Honour Judge Kaye (sitting as a Judge of the High Court), however, found that Dr Bradshaw’s case was just such a rare case.  The allegations went much further than accusation and counter-accusation against and by the persons involved in an intimate relationship.  They included the very serious allegations of false accusations, fabricating and altering original documents and lying to the investigator.  These allegations struck at the core duties and responsibilities of a doctor of honesty and integrity.

 

It is to be recalled that in Shiekh the dentist engaged in what the judge referred to as a sustained fraud over a lengthy period of time, and it is also of importance that the fraud related to the conduct of his dental practice.  One would be inclined to the view that also struck at the core duties and responsibilities of a dentist but Davis J thought it appropriate to allow the dentist’s appeal against suspension.  It will be remembered that the same judge also declined to uphold an interim suspension order in the case of Sosanya v General Medical Council, [2009] EWHC 2814 (Admin), a doctor charged with money laundering and committed to the Crown Court to stand trial.

 

This case, therefore, further muddies the murky area of interim suspension on public interest grounds.  It would seem that we shall have to continue to proceed on a case by case basis until a Court of Appeal decisions lays down firmer guidelines.

Tags: Steven Bradshaw v General Medical Council [2010] EWHC 1