High Court to hear cases on the impartiality of NHS disciplinary panels for doctors

25 October 2010

Judicial review challenges are being made in two cases following a recent successful application in the High Court in Dr Puri v Bradford Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Dr Louizou v Mid-Yorkshire Hospitals Trust. They will be heard together as they address similar issues. The challenges are by way of judicial review, which is possible because the employers are public bodies. One doctor alleges illegality in that the disciplinary panels are not independent and that is an infringement of Article 6 of the Human Rights Act; the right to a fair trial. The other challenges that a disciplinary case is being taken at all.

Doctor Louizou’s case
Doctor Louizou is subject to a disciplinary process concerning allegations over his failure to agree a job plan and the manner in which he conducted his private practice. He has been given leave to apply for judicial review on the basis that the charges are so wrongly founded that they cannot support disciplinary action.

The Court stated that it will only intervene in disciplinary cases where there was a fundamental procedural flaw which meant that the disciplinary process should not have been commenced at all. This is the issue that will be considered in detail.

Doctor Puri’s case
Doctor Puri complains that the composition of disciplinary and appeal panels that heard allegations of misconduct against him were not independent and this was a breach of his human rights. He complained about the presence of the Chief Executive of the Trust on one panel and two non-executive Trust directors on the other. In granting leave to judicially review this point, the Court stated: "…it is highly desirable that the Court should have before it the issue of the proper composition of the panel at both levels."

Comment
The ultimate decisions in these cases will affect all disciplinary panels conducted under the "Maintaining High Professional Standards in the Modern NHS" ("MHPS") procedures. We will keep you informed of the outcome of the case in due course. The cases further illustrate the challenges that can be made against NHS employers under MHPS and re enforce the need for the process to be adhered to.