ABSTRACT
Before the GMC can act with regard to a doctor who has been convicted of a criminal offence, the fact of the conviction must come to its notice. This may occur in one of a number of ways. For example, reports may be made by the police or the Home Office, or the GMC may find out about it from its press cuttings agency. However, in practice the GMC has not always found out about a conviction in a timely manner, or sometimes at all. In a paper considered by the GMC Fitness to Practise Policy Committee in November 1998, it was acknowledged that the Council would not necessarily be aware of cases where doctors were facing serious criminal charges.
