Interim Suspension Order
A temporary order suspending a professional's registration pending investigation and hearing, imposed where public protection requires immediate action. Must be reviewed periodically.
Independent editorial summary — not the official statute text. Read the official version on legislation.gov.uk.
The interim suspension order is a mechanism used across UK professional regulation to remove a practitioner from active practice while allegations against them are investigated, without waiting for a full disciplinary hearing. In medical regulation, section 41A of the Medical Act 1983 empowers an Interim Orders Tribunal or Medical Practitioners Tribunal, where it is 'satisfied that it is necessary for the protection of members of the public or is otherwise in the public interest, or is in the interests of a fully registered person, for the registration of that person to be suspended or to be made subject to conditions', to make an order suspending the practitioner's registration for a period not exceeding eighteen months — defined in the Act as 'an interim suspension order'.
The order is genuinely provisional. The person concerned must be given an opportunity to appear before the tribunal and be heard before an interim order is made, and the order must be periodically reviewed: the tribunal must review it within six months of it being made and, if it remains in force, at further intervals of no more than six months (or sooner, on request, after three months, or where new evidence becomes relevant). A tribunal can revoke the order, vary any conditions imposed, or convert an interim suspension order into an order for interim conditional registration, and vice versa, if satisfied that doing so remains necessary for public protection or the public interest.
Because eighteen months may not be enough to complete an investigation and hearing, the regulator (the General Council, in the medical context) can apply to the relevant court to extend an interim order, and the court may extend it by up to a further twelve months at a time. While an interim suspension order is in force the practitioner is, for most purposes, treated as if not registered at all, even though their name remains on the register — reflecting the order's function as an immediate, if temporary, protective measure rather than a finding of misconduct.
Example
A doctor facing a serious allegation of endangering patient safety may be made subject to an interim suspension order the moment the allegation is referred for a tribunal hearing, preventing them from practising for up to eighteen months while the substantive investigation proceeds.
Related terms
Official sources
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