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A deputy who triggered multiple code of conduct complaints while unsuccessfully attempting to get politicians to debate an annual report on doctors last year could launch another attempt in the States Assembly next week.
Deputy Gavin St Pier has laid a motion to debate the Responsible Officer report for 2022, which details the regulation and revalidation of doctors registered to practice in the Bailiwick.
The motion has been seconded by Deputy Lester Queripel.
The States’ rule book allows for annual reports to be debated in the Assembly if such a motion is laid, and if a majority of deputies vote to do so. Ordinarily, this doesn’t happen for “appendix” reports which are tabled without discussion.
Deputy St Pier triggered multiple code of conduct complaints against himself when he spoke to convince politicians to debate the 2021 report, where he named a local doctor.
He refutes that he breached the code of conduct while speaking under parliamentary privilege. The outcome of the complaints process is expected later this year.
He said that his own personal experiences of raising concerns about the health service had “triggered a bizarre and Kafkaesque safeguarding investigation, which our GP described at the time as the weaponisation of the safeguarding system against us”.
That attempt was defeated by 10 votes to 28.
While the most recent report did not detail any new investigations or conduct concerns into Bailiwick doctors, it did show that a few practitioners had been placed on remedial plans as there was a “lack of evidence” to revalidate them following appraisals.
Deputy St Pier also convinced the States to review the “role, purpose and accountability of the Medical Officer of Health” back in 2014 following a successful amendment to that year’s annual report.
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