Urology Malpractice Litigation and Complaints Referred to the General Medical Council: A UK-based analysis of Trends, Demographics, and Outcomes over the Last Two Decades.

Abstract

Background and objective: Surgical specialties account for a significant proportion of malpractice litigation claims and complaints to the regulatory body. The aim of our study was to analyse trends and outcomes for urology malpractice claims and complaints to the General Medical Council (GMC) in the UK over the last two decades.

Methods: Data were requested from the GMC and NHS Resolution under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. This included the number of malpractice claims in urology, including damages paid, and annual complaints about urologists to the GMC since 2006. For complaints to the GMC, demographics, case outcomes, and reasons for complaints were also provided.

Key findings and limitations: Over the study period, there was a 2.9-fold increase in successful (settled or closed) malpractice claims (from 2006-2007 to 2022-2023) and a 1.5-fold increase in complaints to the GMC about urologists (from 2007 to 2024). There were 2511 successful malpractice claims, resulting in a total payout of £145 million. The GMC received 1118 complaints regarding 1045 urologists, of which 26.0% (291/1118) were investigated, 2.4% (27/1118) resulted in a hearing, and 0.5% (6/1118) resulted in the doctor involved being erased from the medical register. Demographic distributions, including gender, ethnicity, and place of medical qualification, for the group involved in complaints differed significantly in comparison to the overall urologist population.

Conclusions and clinical implications: The numbers of successful urological malpractice claims and complaints to the regulatory body and associated costs have risen. A small proportion of complaints to the GMC led to a medicolegal hearing and subsequent erasure of the doctors involved from the medical register.

Patient summary: We analysed trends and outcomes for malpractice claims and complaints in urology over the last two decades in the UK. The numbers of successful urological malpractice claims and complaints and associated costs have risen, with a small proportion of doctors removed from the medical register.