SRA v Spence High Court rules on practicing without a practicing certificate or insurance

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Published: Friday, 19 October 2012 10:04

Written by Alex Lane

In this reported case, the SRA appealed to the High Court on the basis that the decision to suspend Mr Spence was unduly lenient as a finding of dishonesty should warrant erasure.

In February 2011 the SDT ordered that S would be suspended for three years after he had continued to practice without a practicing certificate or professional indemnity insurance. The SDT had also found him guilty of making misleading and dishonest statements to the SRA, failing to comply with the SRA accounts rules, failing to co-operate with the SRA investigators and intentionally misleading them.

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GMC Revalidation for doctors

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Published: Friday, 19 October 2012 08:33

Written by John Williams

Jeremy Hunt today announced the introduction of "revalidation" for doctors on 3rd December 2012 in what has been heralded by Niall Dickson Chief Executive of the GMC as " a historic moment. This is the biggest change in medical regulation for more than 150 years".Revalidation will require doctors to show they meet clinical standards and that they have kept up to date with advances in their field. Their appraisals (which doctors have already been used to undergoing) will include feedback from patients and colleagues. Every five years the GMC will be sent a report on whether they should keep their registration. The BMA have been largely welcoming to the changes but have cautioned against revalidation unnecessarily adding to the levels of bureaucracy already prevalent in the NHS. For more details on revalidation go to http://www.gmc-uk.org/doctors/revalidation.asp . John Williams commented

"Article 8 of the ECHR provides for a fundamental human right of respect for private and family life, home and correspondence. This includes qualifications. It will be interesting to see how tribunals who have to consider whether the revalidation process and whether a doctor's licence should be removed balance the protection of patients and the public against a doctors rights under article 8. Doctors are already amongst the most heavily regulated of professionals in the country, if not the world. Doctors are likely to have to spend a lot of time on recording revalidation, the process of revalidation is likely to add significantly to time and cost of regulation by the GMC and the hard pressed defence organisations, the MDU and the MPS, will have to meet the cost of challenges brought by doctors whose careers are under threat. Whilst it may be the case that there are already many appraisers in place, this is the tip of the iceberg in terms of extra cost. Ultimately we as consumers of healthcare and tax payers will have to fund the extra cost of all doctors having to continually prove themselves. Time spent filling in forms is not time spent treating patients."

Defence of Fraud Case concludes by Civil Settlement rather than Criminal Charges

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Published: Thursday, 11 October 2012 08:34

Written by Bill Wilson

Bill Wilson has achieved another successful outcome, much to the delight and satisfaction of his Client who was arrested on suspicion of a substantial fraud offence earlier this year. The allegation centred around the manufacture and supply of goods from the Far East to a well- known high street retailer over a four year period amounting to an alleged fraud of many hundreds of thousands of pounds. Despite his client being interviewed at length and bailed by Police, Bill was able to ensure criminal charges were not laid through persistent but effective negotiation and instead the fraud allegation concluded with a civil settlement. This undoubtedly meant that his client was able to avoid the stress and expense of having to defend the matter in a lengthy criminal trial and protected our client against the risk of a fraud conviction and draconian confiscation of property which would have followed.

New guidance from the SFO on Facilitation Payments, Corporate Entertainment and Self Reporting

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Published: Wednesday, 10 October 2012 10:05

Written by John Williams

The SFO issued their new guidance today (see our earlier article). Reaction has suggested that it is clearer but that companies face bribery crackdowns in line with the guidance.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financial-crime/9596016/Companies-face-bribery-crackdown-after-new-SFO-rules.html
The theme which runs through the guidance is that cases will be prosecuted where there is a "realistic prospect of conviction" and it is "in the public interest" to do so. Reference is made to the various Codes in deciding on whether to prosecute.
Facilitation payments, it is stressed, were illegal before the Act and remain so. The reference in the earlier guidance to facilitiation payments being endemic in some countries and it taking time to eradicate are no longer present.
http://www.sfo.gov.uk/bribery--corruption/the-bribery-act/facilitation-payments.aspx
Corporate entertainment is referred to under the new guidance and is described as “bona fide hospitality or promotional or other legitimate business expenditure is recognised as an established and important part of doing business.”  It points out that "It is also the case, however, that bribes are sometimes disguised as legitimate business expenditure." Interestingly the heading is "business expenditure" rather than "corporate hospitality" or "corporate entertainment".
http://www.sfo.gov.uk/bribery--corruption/the-bribery-act/business-expenditure.aspx

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