Recent PCC cases have demonstrated the importance of ensuring that you have appropriate professional legal cover to pay for legal representation, as well as your indemnity insurance.
05.11.24
Recent PCC cases have demonstrated the importance of ensuring that you have appropriate professional legal cover to pay for legal representation, as well as your indemnity insurance.
To register with the GCC, you must have at least £5 million in patient indemnity cover. This insurance will compensate patients who may be injured or harmed during treatment, ensuring they can receive financial support and necessary care if needed. Although we sometimes investigate complaints about inadequate indemnity cover, such cases are rare. Be particularly careful to ensure you maintain adequate cover when changing insurer, moving job (if the clinic insures on your behalf) or changing bank account (if your insurance is automatically paid).
Professional legal cover provides you with legal support and financial protection against the costs of legal action – whether that be a private action, or a complaint to the regulator. In recent years there have been a few cases where a chiropractor has represented themselves during all or part of the Professional Conduct Committee hearings. This can be costly for both the chiropractor and the GCC - the cases tend to be more drawn out as self represented chiropractors are unfamiliar with the hearing process and therefore not in the best position to know how to properly defend the case against them. In addition, research from the General Dental Council and Nursing and Midwifery Council suggests that the outcome for the professional under investigation could be worse than if they were represented.
To illustrate when you would use professional legal cover, it helps to understand the stages of the Fitness to Practise process:
By law, the General Chiropractic Council (GCC) must have an Investigating Committee consider all complaints. The committee includes registered chiropractors and non-chiropractors (lay members). Their job is not to make decisions about outcomebut to determine if there’s a case to answer by asking:
The investigating committee do not hear oral evidence. They rely on written evidence and documents provided by the chiropractor and patient.
If a complaint is straightforward, you don’t necessarily need legal representation at this stage (though you can if you wish).
Most of the time, the Investigating Committee decides there is "no case to answer," and therefore no further action is taken against the chiropractor. However, around 12 times a year, the Investigating Committee finds there is a case to answer, and refer the matter to the Professional Conduct Committee (PCC).
The PCC is made up of registered chiropractors and lay members. The PCC can choose to handle complaints either through a public oral hearing, which may last several days, or on the papers for simpler cases.
While chiropractors are allowed to represent themselves, research by Plymouth University that looked across healthcare regulators suggested that self-representation can lead to worse outcomes and more severe sanctions.
At the PCC stage, the GCC’s role is to present the allegations and evidence against the chiropractor. This means it is not appropriate for GCC staff to assist chiropractors in preparing for the hearing.
Colleagues within the Professional Associations have told us that some chiropractors are trying to lower their insurance costs by cutting back on legal coverage. We've also seen cases that took longer than expected as the lack of legal representation meant that the chiropractor was not familiar with the process and therefore not able to properly defend the case against them.
While the GCC cannot require you to have legal cover, we strongly recommend that, when you next renew, you take the time to understand exactly what your insurance does and does not cover.
Blog: The importance of engaging with the Fitness to Practise process
Guide: A guide for registrants on the complaints investigation process