GMC has Dropped its Appeal and JR against a Doctor’s Restoration to the Register

Christopher Geering was recently instructed on a direct access basis to defend a doctor facing both an appeal to the High Court from the GMC and a separate claim by the GMC for judicial review. The doctor had been voluntarily erased from the register some years before. At a restoration hearing she was readmitted to the register. The GMC attempted to appeal this even though on the face of it Parliament had given it a right to appeal restoration hearings after the sanction of erasure, but not restoration hearings after voluntary erasure. After exchange of skeleton arguments the GMC brought the JR proceedings against its own Tribunal’s decision in case it did not have jurisdiction. A week before the hearing – having reflected further on its position – the GMC agreed to drop both the appeal and the JR, allowing the doctor to resume her career.