MPTS events and general communications

We hold records of registration and attendance at MPTS events. We hold information about registration and attendance so that we can contact attendees about their event. We also keep information so that we can verify past attendance and plan for future events. We may ask for dietary and access requirements if needed so we can plan the event.

We hold information about attendees at MPTS events. This can include name, employment details, contact details, and any dietary and accessibility requirements. We may also record events for quality and training purposes.

When you contact our IS Service Desk or Contact Centre, we automatically label your communication to identify why you've reached out. We use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to help us with this. We use these labels along with an analysis of your message to help us select samples for review. These are then checked by a member of our staff for quality, training, or monitoring.  

Our delegate management system is run by a third party acting under contract to the GMC, and they have access to this data where it is necessary for them to do so. 

We use web forms, email, chat and message functionality and call recording to support our regulatory functions or our legitimate interests. We hold this information to respond to queries or requests for information and to improve user experience. If you have provided your name and contact details as part of interacting with us for a general or information query, we may use the information you supply to reply to you.

We hold information that users have provided to us when completing web forms or interacting with us using contact methods available including chat, messaging, calls or email. This can include anything given to us using these methods but will usually include name, contact details, requests for information or feedback about our websites and interactions.

We do not routinely share general correspondence we receive but may do so if the processing falls under one of the other sections in this privacy notice. For example, if the general correspondence raises a safeguarding concern or fitness to practice concerns about a doctor, physician associate (PA) or anaesthesia associate (AA).

As a large regulator and public authority, we’re often talked about in the public domain. We think that it’s important to keep up to date with what the public say about our work on social media, on the internet and in the media generally. We also think that it’s a useful way to engage with our stakeholders and customers about our work.

We operate accounts on a number of public social media channels. People can contact us and make enquiries through some of these media channels. We use these accounts to see what people are saying about us and the healthcare sector in general. We may also use these accounts to answer requests or enquiries submitted through these channels.

Occasionally we may be alerted to a concern about someone’s fitness to practise via social media. We’ll refer any fitness to practise concerns for investigation where appropriate, but we don’t monitor these sites for this information. 

In some cases, information made public or opinions expressed on social media may be relevant to our investigations into an individual’s fitness to practise. We’ll process personal data from social media where it forms part of the evidence for our investigations or is otherwise relevant to our investigations or regulatory function.

Hearing scheduling records are held to manage the attendance of the tribunal, legal representatives, MPTS staff, witnesses and any official observers.

It is a statutory requirement to record all proceedings (whether virtual or in person). The tribunal will inform participants that the hearing is being recorded and the reason for doing so. Your personal data is processed by contracted suppliers which provide these systems.

Hearing scheduling records include the name, contact details and a person’s relationship to hearing (e.g. legal representative).

We retain hearing recordings for a period of 7 years, at which point they are permanently deleted. 

Transcripts are produced on request (a fee may apply), and we will hold a verbatim copy plus, where necessary, a redacted version. 

Hearing transcripts are only produced on request and the content is based on the individual’s relationship, if any, to the hearing. You can find out more information about how to request a hearing transcript. Matters considered in private session or are otherwise of a confidential, personal or sensitive nature will be excluded where necessary.

When a transcript is requested, the tribunal recording files are shared with our contracted transcription company to produce transcripts. We do not disclose copies of the recordings to requestors.

Each disclosed transcript is accompanied by a legal disclaimer regarding the requestors right, if any, to share the content with others. The front page of each day of the transcript includes a legal notification that also states the requestors right, if any, to share the content with others. It also advises that the requestor and persons they may share the content with must take care to comply with the Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), as applicable.