Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

PSA v GPhC: Administrative Court quashes abuse-of-process stay; legitimate expectation outweighed by public interest; case remitted to GPhC and costs upheld after serious procedural irregularities

Published on: 11 March 2025

Published by a LexisNexis Local Government expert

Legal News

Article summary

Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care v General Pharmaceutical Council and another [2024] EWHC 3005 (Admin)

What are the practical implications of this case?

The practical consequences for those working in professional discipline are three-fold:

There is a stringent threshold for granting and upholding stays of proceedings before FTP Committees and, on review, by the courts in healthcare regulation. This reflects regulators’ primary duty to protect public safety, serve the public interest, and uphold professional standards. In this judgment, Mrs Justice Lang emphasised that alternative steps to correct a fundamental factual error could, and should, have been considered by the Committee instead of ordering a stay.
For prosecution discipline practitioners in particular, it is a warning that the Courts will readily pinpoint, confront, and censure poor practice and failings. In this matter, Lang J was forthright in identifying individual staff shortcomings and stating that the GPhC had handled R’s case with gross incompetence and unfairness, to the extent that she felt compelled to require the whole process to be undertaken again. Thus, a salutary reminder to ensure internal...

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