title: Place of medical qualification and outcomes of UK General Medical Council "fitness to practise" process: cohort study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate whether country of medical qualification is associated with "higher impact" decisions at different stages of the UK General Medical Council's (GMC's) "fitness to practise" process after allowing for other characteristics of doctors and inquiries.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective cohort study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Medical practice in the United Kingdom.
  
  
  METHODS
  7526 inquiries to the GMC concerning 6954 doctors.
  
  
  METHODS
  Proportion of inquiries referred for further investigation at initial triage by the GMC, proportion of inquiries investigated that were subsequently referred for adjudication, and proportion of inquiries resulting in doctors being erased or suspended from the medical register; relative odds of higher impact decisions, by country of qualification, adjusted for doctors' sex, years since primary medical qualification, medical specialty, source and type of inquiry, and nature of allegations.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 7526 inquiries, 4702 concerned doctors who qualified in the UK, 624 concerned doctors who qualified elsewhere in the European Union (EU), and 2190 concerned doctors who qualified outside the EU. At the initial triage, 30% (n = 1398) of inquiries concerning doctors who qualified in the UK had a high impact decision, compared with 43% (267) for doctors who qualified elsewhere in the EU and 46% (998) for those who qualified outside the EU. The adjusted relative odds of an inquiry being referred for further investigation were 1.67 (95% confidence interval 1.28 to 2.17) for doctors who qualified elsewhere in the EU and 1.61 (1.38 to 1.88) for those who qualified outside the EU, compared with doctors who qualified in the UK. At the investigation stage, 5% (228) of inquiries received concerning UK qualified doctors were referred for adjudication, compared with 10% for EU (63) or non-EU (221) qualified doctors. The adjusted relative odds of referral for adjudication were 2.14 (1.46 to 3.16) for doctors who qualified elsewhere in the EU and 1.68 (1.31 to 2.16) for those who qualified outside the EU. At the adjudication stage, 1% (69) of inquiries received concerning UK qualified doctors led to erasure or suspension, compared with 4% (24) for doctors who qualified elsewhere in the EU and 3% (71) for non-EU qualified doctors. The adjusted relative odds of erasure or suspension were 2.16 (1.22 to 3.80) for doctors who qualified elsewhere in the EU and 1.48 (1.00 to 2.19) for those who qualified outside the EU.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Inquiries to the GMC concerning doctors qualified outside the UK are more likely to be associated with higher impact decisions at each stage of the fitness to practice process. These associations were not explained by measured inquiry related and doctor related characteristics, but residual confounding cannot be excluded.
authors.affiliation: Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery, King's College London, London SE1 8WA, UK. charlotte.humphrey@kcl.ac.uk
authors.forename: Charlotte
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Humphrey
authors.forename: Shaista
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hickman
authors.forename: Martin C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Gulliford
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards*; D004522:Educational Status; D004641:Emigration and Immigration; D005062:European Union; D005260:Female; D005550:Foreign Medical Graduates / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D006113:United Kingdom