If a Fitness to Practise panel finds that the physician is incapacitated, it can make an Order directing the Registrar to:
• revoke the physician’s certificate of registration
• suspend the physician’s certificate, and/or
• impose specified terms, conditions or limitations on the physician’s
certificate.
The Fitness to Practise Committee also hears applications for reinstatement (where a physician has been revoked by the FTP Committee) and motions to vary prior orders of the Committee.
The dominant trend is to resolve incapacity matters through
monitoring agreements, resulting in withdrawal of the allegation
of incapacity before the Committee (four matters were withdrawn
in 2014). There have been a decreased number of referrals to the
Committee (four referrals in 2014) and a decrease in the caseload.
The current caseload is seven. One matter is scheduled for hearing
in 2015.
“
We aim to deal
with incapacity
matters quickly
and with dignity
for the physician.
”
Age-Related Illnesses
The prevalence of age-related health problems is becoming an important public health concern as the proportion of older individuals
in the population grows, with dementia as one of the major causes of
disability in older individuals.
As the number of older physicians in practice grows, we continue to see concerns raised about physicians with possible cognitive
impairment. Some physicians require external neurological, neurop