Corrections and takedowns

MedicWatch is a faithful record of publicly published decisions of UK healthcare regulators. We do not editorialise, characterise, or score practitioners. We assess the continuing public interest in each named page against accuracy, privacy and the harm publication may cause. A public source does not by itself justify keeping a page online indefinitely.

When we will correct a page

• The page contains a factual inaccuracy that does not match the source determination.
• The page is out of date — for example, a sanction has been lifted on review by the regulator and we have not yet captured the change.
• The plain-English summary fails our faithfulness rules (e.g. uses characterising language).

When we will remove a page

• The source determination has been quashed or set aside on appeal, and there is no remaining public-interest justification for the page to exist.
• The page is a duplicate of another page on this site (we will keep the canonical one).
• A privacy concern is raised which, in our editorial judgement, outweighs the continuing public interest in named reporting. We give particular attention to safeguarding, children, family members and unnecessary location information.
• A court has ordered removal.
• A basic register profile has no linked adverse determination and there is no sufficient reason to retain it after a removal request. We also review obsolete interim-only records and whether a named record remains necessary after a reported death.

When correction or redaction may be appropriate

• A substantiated professional finding or an active restriction may justify a limited factual account. We consider whether its purpose can be met with less detail, redaction or de-indexing.
• If an original source is withdrawn or becomes unavailable, we reassess the evidence and any reason for withdrawal. We may temporarily unpublish material while an accuracy or safeguarding concern is checked. Source removal does not automatically settle whether continued publication is justified.
• The practitioner has subsequently been restored to the register after a sanction was lifted. Any retained historical account should give the later outcome and current verified status clear prominence. A finding of no current impairment is different from an original finding being overturned on appeal.

How requests are handled

Each request is logged for editorial review against the available source material and later outcomes. Include a reply email and the affected URL so we can seek clarification where needed. We record our reasons for correction, retention or removal. Approved removals are unpublished and protected against automatic republication. Search engines may retain an earlier result until they revisit the page. See our editorial policy for how we decide what to publish.