Stewart Duffy
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Partner
Email: stewart.duffy@rlb-law.com
7th Floor, 85 Fleet Street
London EC4Y 1AE
Email: stewart.duffy@rlb-law.com
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Stewart is a Partner in our Healthcare team. Dual-qualified in medicine and law, Stewart’s specialist work involves regulatory and disciplinary matters for doctors, dentists and other healthcare professionals.
“He is an experienced GMC lawyer and is very sensible.” Chambers and Partners UK 2022
“He is a very strong lawyer who is thorough in his approach.” Chambers and Partners 2021
Legal commentators describe Stewart Duffy as “incredibly bright and very clever,” noting his strong experience in professional discipline issues in the healthcare sector. His recent work has focused on representing dentists in proceedings before the GDC. Chambers and Partners 2020
‘He is amazing; he has incredible judgement, and as a doctor who requalified as a solicitor he has incredible background knowledge.’ Chambers and Partners 2018
‘Super-bright.’ Legal 500 2017
Stewart Duffy is a specialist in regulatory and disciplinary matters for doctors, dentists and other healthcare professionals. Sources say he ‘prepares his cases with a fine-tooth comb and always knows every detail.’ Chambers and Partners 2017
Areas of Expertise
Stewart’s caseload includes disciplinary hearings before statutory regulators, including GMC Panels, GDC Committees and Performers List hearings, statutory appeals and judicial review proceedings, as well as advising clients in respect of NHS primary care contract disputes and a variety of regulatory regimes relevant to the healthcare sector including privacy, data protection and the GDPR.
Experience
Stewart has a medical degree and MD from Trinity College, Dublin and spent a number of years in hospital practice. He then went on to study law at University College Dublin and re-qualified as a solicitor in England and Wales, having been called to the New York State Bar. Stewart also holds a Certificate in Data Protection Practice from the Law Society of Ireland and a Professional Diploma in Cybersecurity from UCD.
Stewart has published on a variety of legal topics including healthcare disciplinary, data protection and employment law and regular delivers talks and training on topics related to his practice areas.
Client Sectors
Healthcare
Medical defence organisations
Membership
The Law Society
International Association of Privacy Professionals
Employment Lawyers Association
- Care Quality Commission publishes statistics on death notifications involving COVID-19 received from individual care homes
21 July 2021 | Care homes | Healthcare - Evidence – the basis of admissibility
19 May 2021 | Healthcare Professionals - Fitness to Practice - The regulator’s power to require disclosure of information in Fitness to Practise investigations
30 April 2021 | Healthcare | Healthcare Professionals - Fitness to Practice - Practical observations about the burden and standard of proof – post Kuzmin
30 April 2021 | Healthcare | Healthcare Professionals - Fitness to Practice - How is oral evidence dealt with at Fitness to Practise hearings?
9 April 2021 | Healthcare | Healthcare Professionals | Healthcare Professionals - Fitness to Practice - Fitness to practise hearings – Who are the panel?
29 March 2021 | Healthcare Professionals | Healthcare Professionals - Fitness to Practice - Adequacy Decisions under the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018
26 March 2021 | Data Protection - Fitness to Practise investigations – what are undertakings?
16 March 2021 | Healthcare Professionals | Healthcare Professionals - Fitness to Practice - Fitness to Practise – Warnings and their effect
12 March 2021 | Healthcare Professionals | Healthcare Professionals - Fitness to Practice - What is ‘Advice’ and what is its significance?
9 March 2021 | Healthcare Professionals - Fitness to Practice - Is there a case to answer? The real prospect test
5 March 2021 | Healthcare Professionals | Healthcare Professionals - Fitness to Practice - Tribunal’s reliance on “twin fallacies” results in quashing of direction for erasure
4 March 2021 | Healthcare | Healthcare Professionals - The filtering stage of the Fitness to Practise process – Case Examiners/Investigating Committees
26 February 2021 | Healthcare Professionals | Healthcare Professionals - Fitness to Practice - The duty to co-operate with Fitness to Practise investigations
24 February 2021 | Healthcare | Healthcare Professionals - Fitness to Practice - The duty of healthcare professionals to self-report convictions and cautions
19 February 2021 | Healthcare Professionals | Healthcare Professionals - Fitness to Practice - When health is a fitness to practise issue – adverse health
16 February 2021 | Healthcare Professionals | Healthcare Professionals - Fitness to Practice - Fitness to Practise – what is current impairment?
11 February 2021 | Healthcare Professionals | Healthcare Professionals - Fitness to Practice - How regulators conduct fitness to practise investigations
9 February 2021 | Healthcare Professionals | Healthcare Professionals - Fitness to Practice - Data protection in a post-Brexit world – what is the impact of Schrems II on SCCs?
2 February 2021 | Data Protection - Data Protection in a post-Brexit world – what you need to know
27 January 2021 | Data Protection - New NHSX Template Data Sharing Agreement for Healthcare Providers
11 January 2021 | Data Protection | Healthcare - Alleging sexual motivation in regulatory/disciplinary proceedings – new High Court guidance
22 September 2020 | Healthcare | Healthcare Professionals - Schrems II – Landmark judgment impacts EU-US transfer of personal data
16 July 2020 | Data Protection | Litigation and dispute resolution - COVID Challenges in Dentistry: Consent to Treatment
15 June 2020 | Healthcare | Healthcare Professionals - Professional Indemnity for Healthcare Professionals
15 June 2020 | Healthcare | Healthcare Professionals - NHS Dentistry – Resumption of service but not as usual
9 June 2020 | Healthcare | Healthcare Professionals - It wasn’t written down but it did happen
5 June 2020 | Healthcare | Healthcare Professionals - Covid-19 – What next for primary dental care?
22 May 2020 | Healthcare - Interim Orders – is a dental care professional’s right to privacy less important than a doctor’s?
19 May 2020 | Healthcare Professionals - General Medical Council – review of fitness to practise cases in the face of coronavirus
20 April 2020 | Healthcare | Healthcare Professionals - Gross negligence manslaughter- Tolerating risk in the era of coronavirus
20 April 2020 | Healthcare | Healthcare Professionals - Covid19 – The Criminalisation of Ordinary Conduct in Extraordinary Times
6 April 2020 | Healthcare - Inquests: The Coronavirus Act 2020 and the scrutiny dilemma
3 April 2020 | Healthcare | Healthcare Professionals - Seeing the wood for the trees – more clarity on the ambit of vicarious liability
2 April 2020 | Litigation and dispute resolution - Vicarious liability – A sigh of relief
1 April 2020 | Data Protection | Litigation and dispute resolution - Covid-19 – Chief Coroner’s Guidance on Post-Mortem Examinations during the Pandemic
30 March 2020 | Care homes | Healthcare | Healthcare Professionals - ‘Shadow Consultations’ – why they are best avoided
13 December 2019 | Healthcare Professionals - Warnings given at fitness to practice investigations – should you challenge them?
4 December 2019 | Healthcare Professionals - Are you facilitating your patients’ autonomy? Mordel v Royal Berkshire and the objective of informed consent
12 November 2019 | Healthcare Professionals - Personal or Professional Misconduct? A shrinking role for MHPS
9 October 2019 | Healthcare Professionals - Storing cookies requires internet users’ active consent
1 October 2019 | Litigation and dispute resolution - The Right to be Forgotten – Rounds 2 and 3
24 September 2019 | Data Protection | Healthcare Professionals - Government confirms intended reforms of regulation for healthcare professionals
12 July 2019 | Healthcare | Healthcare Professionals - The Pitfalls of Annual Renewal for Dentists and DCPs
24 June 2019 | Healthcare | Healthcare Professionals - Interim orders: Oversight with bite
18 February 2019 | Healthcare - A qualified success for the GMC in appeal against MPT decision
8 February 2019 | Healthcare - GP partnership review
4 February 2019 | Healthcare | Primary care - The positive impact of changes in the GDC fitness to practise process
30 January 2019 | Healthcare - Allegations of dishonesty require context based assessment
28 January 2019 | Healthcare - Cross-examination at the Medical Practitioners Tribunal (MPT)
23 January 2019 | Healthcare - Privacy rights and ‘citizen journalists’
9 January 2019 | Healthcare | Intellectual property and media law | Primary care - Can parties make a valid Part 36 offer without disclosing the claimant’s clinical records?
7 January 2019 | Healthcare - Adjourning fitness to practise proceedings on health grounds – No culture of adjournment
14 December 2018 | Healthcare - Khan v MNX: Wrongful birth and the limits of liability
13 December 2018 | Healthcare | Primary care - An important post-script
13 December 2018 | Healthcare - Nursing and Midwifery Council publishes its Fitness to Practise Annual Report
3 December 2018 | Healthcare - Zholia Alemi, the fake psychiatrist registered with the GMC, is jailed for fraud and theft
19 November 2018 | Healthcare | Primary care - Increasing transparency – Report on whistleblowing
14 November 2018 | Healthcare | Primary care - Subject access requests and health records
13 November 2018 | Healthcare | Primary care - A newly qualified doctor has faced an MPTS hearing after accepting a police caution for assault in a nightclub
5 November 2018 | Healthcare - Skipping a stage? New ruling by the Court of Session shines a light on the process the GDC is expected to follow
25 October 2018 | Healthcare - GMC to provide Human Factors training for fitness to practice investigators
22 October 2018 | Healthcare - ‘Rest assured, our communications are completely confidential’ – and they really are
14 September 2018 | Healthcare - Dr Bawa-Garba successful on appeal
14 August 2018 | Healthcare | Primary care - The use of CCTV in care homes – The legal issues
1 August 2018 | Care homes | Healthcare | Primary care - Sir Cliff’s victory: Why registrants with the General Dental Council should care
19 July 2018 | Healthcare | Litigation and dispute resolution | Primary care - Subject access requests for mixed personal data
3 July 2018 | Healthcare | Litigation and dispute resolution | Primary care - The relevance of retirement and future risk in fitness to practise proceedings revisited
3 July 2018 | Healthcare - GPhC publishes ‘Guidance to ensure a safe and effective pharmacy team’
29 June 2018 | Healthcare | Primary care - Overhaul of gross negligence manslaughter in healthcare expected following the Williams Review
11 June 2018 | Healthcare - CJEU hands down an important decision on web tracking cookies
5 June 2018 | Care homes | Charity | Corporate | Healthcare | Litigation and dispute resolution - HealthManagement.org – What will the GDPR mean for healthcare leaders?
4 June 2018 | Healthcare | Primary care - The CQC announces new information sharing agreements with prominent health insurers
17 May 2018 | Healthcare | Primary care - Reflective learning: GMC submits this should not be considered in fitness to practise investigations
16 May 2018 | Healthcare | Primary care - Privacy v Open Justice: Ongoing publication of judgments in civil proceedings
2 May 2018 | Healthcare - CQC briefing: Approved Mental Health Professional (AMHP) services
30 April 2018 | Healthcare - The state of care in independent online primary health services
20 April 2018 | Healthcare | Primary care - Improving physical healthcare for people living with severe mental illness in primary care
19 April 2018 | Healthcare | Primary care - The Faculty of General Dental Practice UK publishes new dementia guidance
9 April 2018 | Healthcare | Primary care - GDPR – Privacy notices
14 March 2018 | Healthcare - GDPR – Data subjects’ rights
14 March 2018 | Healthcare - Data, disclosure and de-identification – Will proposed offences in the Data Protection Bill make criminals of us all?
31 January 2018 | Data Protection | Healthcare - Nowak v Data Protection Commissioner
22 December 2017 | Healthcare | Litigation and dispute resolution - Deficient, incorrect or delayed treatment does not establish a breach of the substantive limb of Article 2 ECHR
19 December 2017 | Healthcare - Claims of discrimination arising from professional disciplinary proceedings
7 December 2017 | Healthcare | Solicitors regulation - Morrisons data leak: Supermarket liable for data breach by disgruntled staff member
1 December 2017 | Corporate | Healthcare | Litigation and dispute resolution - Unlawful obtaining of personal data – A warning for healthcare professionals
28 November 2017 | Healthcare - Are interim orders relevant to final sanction?
27 November 2017 | Healthcare - Post-Ivey dishonesty cases – A scoreless draw
20 November 2017 | Healthcare - GP partnership disputes – Cheema v Jones
6 November 2017 | Corporate | Healthcare | Litigation and dispute resolution | Primary care - Trends in GMC appeals against fitness to practise decisions
26 May 2017 | Healthcare - Impairment and sanction in public interest cases
15 May 2017 | Healthcare | Primary care - The GMC’s confidentiality guidance
25 April 2017 | Healthcare | Primary care - Confidentiality: Good practice in handling patient information (GMC 2017)
25 April 2017 | Healthcare | Primary care - Barrister escapes serious professional misconduct judgment due to medical condition
14 March 2017 | Healthcare | Solicitors regulation - Law Commission review on Criminal Record Disclosure
7 February 2017 | Healthcare - Case review: Kamberova v NMC
3 February 2017 | Healthcare - The GDC’s power to review warnings issued to registrants
19 December 2016 | Healthcare | Primary care - Surgeon wins appeal against conviction of gross negligence manslaughter
15 December 2016 | Healthcare - Case review: Habib Khan v General Pharmaceutical Council
14 December 2016 | Healthcare | Primary care - Inquests are becoming increasingly adversarial: Fact v theory in the Coroner’s Court
8 August 2016 | Healthcare - Revised GDC guidance on issuing warnings
5 August 2016 | Healthcare | Primary care - CPS Victims’ Right to Review Scheme
8 July 2016 | Healthcare - Warnings at the conclusion of GMC Fitness to Practise investigations
15 June 2016 | Healthcare | Primary care - Does Article 6 afford a practitioner the right to comment on legal advice received by a Professional Disciplinary Tribunal?
10 June 2016 | Healthcare - The importance of first instance tribunals for healthcare professionals
11 May 2016 | Healthcare | Primary care - GMC publication: Huge benefits for adverse health cases
10 May 2016 | Healthcare | Primary care - Honesty is the best policy
10 May 2016 | Healthcare | Primary care - Cosmetic procedures – beware
20 April 2016 | Healthcare - The fitness to practise process: risks of non-engagement
12 April 2016 | Healthcare | Primary care - High Court judgment – Professional Standards Authority v General Medical Council and Dr Igwilo
24 March 2016 | Healthcare | Primary care - The GMC’s published response to fitness to practise proposals
18 March 2016 | Healthcare | Primary care - Lifetime retention and disclosure of fitness to practise histories
18 February 2016 | Healthcare | Primary care