364.Section 118 amends section 29 of the Health Care Professions Act 2002. Section 29 is extended to enable the Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence to refer to the High Court or, in Scotland, the Court of Session, cases relating to impairment of fitness to practise on grounds of ill health, in addition to cases relating to misconduct and professional competence.
365.The section makes some minor amendments which update references to the committees to which section 29 applies. It also makes amendments to remove the ability of the Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence to refer cases of the GMC and the GOC to the High Court or, in Scotland, the Court of Session, as those cases will fall within the remit of the new OHPA. The GMC and GOC are given powers to refer these cases in Schedule 7. Subsection (3) clarifies which court has jurisdiction to deal with referrals by the Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence by reference to the address to which notification of the relevant decision was sent. Subsection (4) amends section 29(6) (which currently provides a time limit of four weeks within which the Council may refer the case to the High Court or, in Scotland, the Court of Session). Section 29(6) is amended to provide that the Council may not refer a case to the High Court or, in Scotland, the Court of Session, after a period of forty days. The forty day period begins on the last day on which an appeal against the decision could be made.