The GMC’s fitness to practise procedures aim to deal firmly, fairly and promptly with those doctors whose fitness to practise is called into question.

If a serious concern about a doctor is reported, we will investigate it. At the end of the investigation process, we can refer the case for a public hearing where an independent decision about the allegations is made by a fitness to practise panel.

We intend to explore the suitability of using digital recording technology in some or all of our hearing rooms. We need to be able to create a complete, accurate and cost-effective record of hearing proceedings. In certain cases, the digital recordings will be provided to one or more parties either as a hard copy transcript or on a multi-media format.

To ensure that digital recording technology is suited to our way of working and hearing environments, we intend to invite the successful supplier to participate in a pilot of their technology within live hearings for a period of four to eight weeks (the length of period will be dependent upon the number of hearings scheduled at the time of the pilot).