Asking professionals to sit in judgement over one another is always tricky. Ask them to do that with commercial competition in the mix and you have an explosive situation.
No decent professional would fail to report serious misconduct but where does it stop? The Latest GOC consultation document asks registrants for their views on making it a requirement to report the fitness to practise of themselves and others.
The wording in the document, which can be viewed on the GOC's website, asks that [registrants]: 'must report information to the GOC, and other relevant organisations, about themselves or other health professionals or organisations, where this information may mean that they are not able to practise safely or effectively.' The sentence finishes with the intriguing: 'or be trusted to act legally?' While this may not seem too unreasonable the consultation goes on to print a list of misdemeanours it considers worthy of a call to the GOC. These include the usual serious offences but also others such as using drugs. The list also fails to add the severity of offences such as violence, abuse or dishonesty.
I am sure professionals have devised their own ways of dealing with staff who have used drugs recreationally or had a conviction in the past for fighting or minor dishonesty offences. The requirement under consultation now covers all those on the register including students and business registrants, widening the net even further.
Failure to report a student who took an ecstasy tablet over the weekend or a long forgotten punch-up may soon make you one of those people unable to be trusted.