GMC GUILTY OF BREACHING CONFIDENTIALITY

[Dr. Rita Pal]

Dear Sir/Madam, 
 
As you all may be aware, Professor Catto has sent a circular to all doctors 
regarding revalidation. On page 12 of the booklet " A licence to Practise and 
Revalidation", the GMC quotes this " We will handle all the information we 
recieve in line with our responsibilities under the law particularly the Data 
Protection Act". All doctors expect the highest standards of confidentiality of 
their records within the General Medical Council. We all know that the GMC 
gives out every doctor home address to anyone who requests it. What happens to 
other data?
 
I am a average doctor who discovered one morning that the GMC had conversed 
about me with a different Trust I had never worked at. My personal details were 
divulged to this Trust. 
 
This is a quote from a letter received by me on the 25th April 2003 . The 
letter was written by Ms Huntington who is the senior case worker at the GMC 
following a complaint made by me. 
 
" I have looked into this incident and can confirm that there has been an 
unfortunate error in our handling of personal data. Please accept our apologies 
for disclosing information about you without your consent" 
 
The information was provided verbally by a Ms Catherine Green to the Trust. I 
only discovered these remarks after a memo was sent to me from my friend at the 
Trust. The memo contained a description of the discussion that had taken place. 
 
How many doctors does this happen to? It would be interesting to note that the 
new revalidation regulations which have higher requirements of personal 
information being held by the GMC places many doctors in danger of their 
personal data being passed verbally by case workers at the GMC. 
 
In my circumstances, I had been assisting a PRHO victimised by Halton Hospital. 
This PRHO had been suspended for leafletting his friends about the way he was 
treated. Subsequently, the Trust began to seek information on his friends. I 
happen to be one of his friends. The GMC was more than eager to assist 
them.Three people have resigned from this Trust mysteriously over the last four 
months - Dr G Murphy, Dr McNamara and the Chief Executive. 
 
Kind Regards
 
Dr Rita Pal
 
NB Anyone wishing to request the letter from the GMC are free to email me. I 
have a scanned copy