International Briefs

The United Kingdom's (U.K.) Department of Health has announced that its proposed system of separating investigation and prosecution from adjudication in cases of medical wrongdoing will not go forward as planned.The department made the official announcement less than a year after it opened its Office of the Health Professions Adjudicator (OHPA) in January 2010.When concerns are raised about the competence of a health professional in the U.K., it is currently the responsibility of the organization that regulates the profession to both investigate and adjudicate the case. But proponents of OHPA had argued that separating the functions of investigation and adjudication would lower costs by creating more efficient mechanisms and processes across the various regulatory bodies.In ensuing months, the government concluded that the creation of another administrative body would not be the best way to improve the investigation/adjudication process in the U.K. Rather, it has signaled that it believes that strengthening the current adjudication process within the U.K.'s medical regulatory bodies — the General Medical Council (GMC) and the General Optical Council (GOC) — would deliver similar benefits to implementing a new administrative body.The decision came in an environment in which deep cuts to social services are being considered in the U.K. Cuts of 45 percent to the administrative costs of the country's National Health Service (NHS) have been proposed.Adjudication will now continue under the system currently in place — with some changes anticipated. Niall Dickson, GMC's Chief Executive, said his agency is committed to reforming the current process of investigation and adjudication within GMC.“We welcome the government's decision,” he said. “We are committed to taking forward a program of major reform to create an efficient and modern adjudication function which operates independently from our other work.”According to Dickson, GMC will separate its investigation activity and the presentation of cases from adjudication by creating what he called a new “tribunal service.” A chair, reporting directly to Parliament on an annual basis, will be appointed to oversee the service.OHPA will remain in existence until the legislation under which it was set up is formally repealed.The establishment of OHPA was a key proposal made by the Government following recommendations by Dame Janet Smith, who recommended that there should be clear separation between the power to investigate and the power to adjudicate concerns about health professionals. The establishment of a separate agency was approved under the Health and Social Care Act in 2008. Walter Merricks, CBE, was appointed as the new agency's chair and Stephen Shaw, CBE, joined as chief executive in May 2010.Had the proposal moved forward, OHPA would have taken over responsibility for hearing cases of fitness to practice from the GMC and the GOC sometime in 2011 or 2012.To learn more, visit www.gmc-uk.org.Source: United Kingdom General Medical Council website, December 2010As an important step in its move toward national regulation in 2010, the Australian Medical Council (AMC) has transitioned its accreditation and assessment programs into Australia's national registration process.AMC President Richard Smallwood, AO, said the AMC had worked hard to ensure it retained its core strengths in assessment and accreditation while aligning them with Australia's new regulatory framework.“AMC is confident that its standards and the integrity of its programs will be maintained,” Professor Smallwood said.Australia's new regulatory process, known as the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme (NRAS), was adopted in 2010. To learn more about the new regulatory process, visit www.amc.org.au.Source: Australian Medical Council website, January 2011The Australian Medical Council (AMC) and the Medical Council of New Zealand (MCNZ) have signed an agreement signaling a new stage in their 20-year history of collaboration.Since 1992, the two Councils have worked together to assess and accredit Australian and New Zealand medical schools. Nominees of the MCNZ participate in the accreditation process managed by the AMC. Officials from the two systems say this has served to benefit both Australia and New Zealand — strengthening the assessments and making possible the sharing of best practices between medical schools in both countries.The collaborative agreement between the two countries includes a framework for:To learn more, visit the Medical Council of New Zealand website at http://www.mcnz.org.nz/.Source: Australian Medical Council and Medical Council of New Zealand websites, January 2011Representatives of the International Association of Medical Regulatory Authorities (IAMRA) took the first step toward the establishment of a set of best practices in medical regulation during the group's most recent Biennial Conference on Medical Regulation, held in the United States last fall.More than two hundred participants, representing 90 organizations from 32 countries, worked together in interactive, small-group sessions to identify issues and principles related to global best practices in medical regulation during the meeting, held in Philadelphia, Pa.“IAMRA members face quite different challenges in medical regulation,” said John Hillery, MB, FRCPsych, FRCPI, immediate past chair of IAMRA. “As a resource for all members, IAMRA must focus on core aspects of regulation that can be implemented anywhere in the world.”The Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates, the National Board of Medical Examiners and the FSMB were co-hosts of the IAMRA 2010 Conference.Small-group sessions allowed participants to share their own experiences and stories related to specific issues in medical regulation and licensure. The groups narrowed the wide-ranging discussions to identify 153 basic principles for further development.The IAMRA Management Committee is now in the process of reviewing the principles and will eliminate areas of redundancy. Work groups will then shape further key principles. The goal is to present results for review and adoption by IAMRA at the 2012 conference on best practices.Parameters established by IAMRA to help shape the eventual global best practices in medical regulation stipulate that they must be:“Our 2010 working conference was highly productive and generated a lot of good commentary,” said Fleur-Ange Lefebvre, executive director and CEO of the Federation of Medical Regulatory Authorities of Canada and the new chair of IAMRA. “The number of principles identified is indicative of the level of engagement reached at the conference.”“With the increasing number of global interconnections in health, it's more important than ever for medical regulators around the world to regularly communicate with each other and share ideas and learning,” she added. “It's an exciting time to be part of IAMRA.”On the last day of the conference, elections were held for the IAMRA Management Committee. Philip Pigou, chief executive officer of the Medical Council of New Zealand, was elected to a two-year term as chair-elect to be followed by a two-year term as chair.More information on IAMRA and the results of the 2010 IAMRA Conference can be found online at www.iamra.com or by contacting IAMRA Secretariat Roxanne Huff at (817) 868-4006 or secretariat@iamra.com.Source: FSMB website and Newsline, November 2010

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