Ethics Committee

The Dr Foster Ethics Committee is a regulatory body independent of Dr Foster, which has been set up to provide guidance and oversee the work of Dr Foster.

The Ethics Committee is entirely independent of Dr Foster. To ensure impartiality, members of the committee are not remunerated for their time, none of the participants have any financial links with Dr Foster and they have no involvement in Dr Foster's commercial partnerships. Their interest is purely in ensuring better public access to health information.

The committee is constituted as a company, The Dr Foster Ethics Committee Limited, and the members of the committee are all directors of the company. Dr Foster has a contract with this company, which requires it to abide by the decisions of the committee. The committee has the power to ensure that Dr Foster meets the standards laid down in its Code of Conduct. The committee has been structured in this way to ensure both that it is genuinely independent and also that it has real legal powers to regulate Dr Foster's conduct. Dr Foster proposes possible new members to the committee, but only the committee is able to appoint new members.

The current membership of the Ethics Committee is as follows:

• Naaz Coker, chair, St George's Healthcare NHS Trust
• Baroness Cumberlege, former health minister, chair of council, St George's Hospital Medical School
• Dr Michael Dixon, chair, NHS Alliance
• Dr Helena Earl, consultant oncologist, Addenbrooke's NHS Trust
• Bridget Gill, head of Corporate Services (York)
• Dianne Hayter, chair of the Consumer Panel of the Bar Standards Board, and a board member of National Consumer Council, the Board for Actuarial Standards, and of the Insolvency Practices Council and formerly of the National Patient Safety Agency; former chief executive of two health charities (Alcohol Concern and Pelican Cancer Centre). vice chair of Labour Party NEC.
• Dame Deirdre Hine, former chair of the Commission for Healthcare Improvement, former president to the BMA
• Sir Donald Irvine (vice chair), former president General Medical Council
• Dr Ian Lane, Medical Director and Consultant Vascular Surgeon, Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust
• Professor Alan Maynard, director, Health Policy Unit, York University and chair, York Health Services NHS Trust
• Bernadette Porter, nurse consultant multiple sclerosis, The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery Therapy and Rehabilitation Services
• Helen Scott, nursing editor/staff nurse, St Christopher's Hospice, London
• Dr Jack Tinker (chair), emeritus dean of the Royal Society of Medicine
• Dr Andrew Vallance-Owen, group medical director, BUPA

The role of the committee is defined in the articles of association as follows:

• To review material published by Dr Foster and to require Dr Foster to amend material that the committee regards as inaccurate, biased or unreliable in any way.
• To ensure that the activities of Dr Foster do not run counter to the Code of Conduct. The code requires Dr Foster to promote better understanding of healthcare, to ensure wide distribution of its information and to avoid political activities.
• To adjudicate on complaints according to the procedure laid down in the deed of covenant.
• The code does not call on the committee to become involved in day-to-day decisions about the way in which Dr Foster conducts its research or in the way in which it prepares material for publication in the media. It is not required to approve publications or to agree methodologies ahead of publication.
• The committee has the power to examine all databases, records and documents held by Dr Foster at any time and also has the power to require Dr Foster to change its practices or publications.
• The committee has the sole power to appoint new members and to decide the number of people on the committee. Dr Foster retains a veto over the appointment of new committee members.
• There will be no financial relationship between Dr Foster and members of the committee.

There are four formal meetings of the committee each year. Dr Foster also sends out briefing papers approximately four times a year to summarise current activities. Members are welcome and encouraged to visit Dr Foster for an informal briefing at any time.

Ethics Committee ruling on the Dr Foster Complementary Therapists Guide 2004

The Committee announced its findings, following complaints by a number of professional organisations about the Dr Foster Complementary Therapists Guide 2004, on 1 June 2004. View full text.

Contacting the Ethics Committee

The Ethics Committee is responsible for adjudicating on complaints that have not been resolved satisfactorily by Dr Foster. If you have a complaint about Dr Foster, please write to:

The Secretary
Dr Foster Ethics Committee Limited
12 Smithfield Street,
London
EC1A 9LA