Fairness of decisions to refer doctors to the MPTS Interim Orders Panel

The General Medical Council (GMC) can refer cases to The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) Interim Orders Panel (IOP) while allegations about a doctor's fitness to practise are resolved. The role of the IOP is to consider whether it is necessary to restrict a doctor's registration in order to protect patients while an investigation is being carried out. We propose to undertake independent research to understand if the greater likelihood of BME UK qualified doctors or doctors with a non-UK PMQ being referred to an IOP compared to the likelihood of white UK qualified doctors being referred to an IOP [once they are within the FtP process] can be explained by applying the guidance to the information that was available to the decision maker at the time as constrained in the case files.