The statutory body in the UK which controls the professional standing and conduct of members of the medical profession. It is responsible for maintaining the Medical Register of those entitled to practise medicine, and retains the power to erase the name of a doctor because of negligence, malpractice, or breach of medical and professional ethics. It also supervises and maintains standards of undergraduate and immediately postgraduate medical education.
The General Medical Council (the GMC) is the regulator of the medical profession in the United Kingdom.
Purpose
The purpose of the GMC is to protect, promote and maintain the health and safety of the community by ensuring proper standards in the practice of medicine. The GMC regulates medical schools in the UK, and liaises with other nations' medical and university regulatory bodies over medical schools overseas, leading to some qualifications being mutually recognised.
Powers, activities and sanctions
A registered medical professional may be referred to the GMC if there are doubts about his or her fitness to practice.
The GMC and its members, with substantial agreement in principle from government and from the professional bodies in UK medicine (e.g. As the regulatory body for a profession and because the perceived reliability of the profession is significant in assuring treatment is sought and followed, the GMC has from its establishment explicitly regarded maintaining public confidence in the profession.
The GMC also administers the Professional and Linguistic Assessment Board test (PLAB), which has to be sat by non-European Union overseas doctors before they may practice medicine in the UK.
The main guidance that the GMC provides for doctors is called Good Medical Practice.
Modes of licensing
Three types of GMC licence are extant: provisional, limited and full.
Reform
Since 2001, the GMC has itself become answerable to the Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence (CHRE, initially "Council for the Regulation of Healthcare Professionals"), which oversees GMC activity and may overturn previous verdicts.
Following recent legislation the GMC is implementing a comprehensive and wide-ranging reform of the organisation and its role. This is a result of considerable social change, but also highly publicised scandal cases such as the Shipman affair
One of the recent changes is the shift of emphasis from simple registration to revalidation of doctors, more similar to the periodic process common in American states, in which the professional is expected to prove his or her professional development and skills.
Criticism
Self-regulation and racism
Due to its nature the GMC is positioned between the medical profession and the public, and has drawn criticism from both sides - from professionals for being overly harsh in fitness to practice decisions and from the public for being too mild.
Concern has also resulted from several studies which have shown that GMC handling of complaints appear to differ depending on race or "overseas qualification", but it has been suggested that this might be due to indirect factors.
Shipman Inquiry
The GMC was most heavily criticised by Dame Janet Smith as part of her inquiry into the issues arising from the case of Harold Shipman. Dame Janet maintained that the GMC failed to deal properly with Fitness to Practice (FTP) cases, particularly involving established and respected doctors.
In response to the Shipman report, Sir Liam Donaldson, the Chief Medical Officer, published a report titled Good doctors, safer patients, which appeared in 2006.
Other healthcare regulatory bodies
UK
Health Professions Council (regulates other health professions in the UK) Nursing and Midwifery Council (regulates nurses and midwives) General Optical Council General Dental Council General Chiropractic Council General Osteopathic Council Royal Pharmaceutical Society Pharmaceutical Society of Northern IrelandAll the above bodies, together with the GMC, are represented on the Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence.
Elsewhere
Many other countries, including New Zealand, South Africa and Singapore, have a central regulator similar to the GMC.
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