Responding to the launch of a consultation on the GMC Order, which sets out a number of proposed changes to the medical regulator, BMA council chair Dr Tom Dolphin said: 

“The changes in today’s consultation are a far cry from what are needed to fix a broken regulator that is aggressively pursuing doctors and failing the public. Rather than restoring the medical profession’s confidence in the GMC, or protecting the safety of the public, both will be further eroded. 

“The BMA has, on behalf of all doctors in the UK, for years been calling for complete reform of the GMC, and these proposals are a missed opportunity. 

“One key change to improving the profession’s trust in the regulator, is to remove its right to appeal decisions made by the independent Medical Practitioner’s Tribunal Service (MPTS). This was recommended by the Williams Review in 2018 and backed by Governments since. The MPTS is supposed to be independent, so it is absurd that today we are not only seeing the GMC have their right-to-appeal retained, but actually expanded. The Professional Standards Authority already has the right to appeal these decisions, and as the regulator’s regulator, it is the right body to do so. 

“Anti-Semitism and racism are abhorrent and unacceptable in the NHS as they are in any workplace. Discrimination and abuse need tackling, but expanding and duplicating the powers of the regulator should not be used as a replacement for action by employers, where this responsibility should lie. 

“We welcome the commitment to a less adversarial approach to fitness-to-practise investigations, but with no duty of care to those the GMC investigates, no independent authority to consider complaints by doctors, and a governance arrangement which doesn’t ensure doctors are at the heart of decision-making, it rings hollow. 

“Today’s proposals will create more fear and mistrust for doctors in the context of a system which is sanctioning doctors for actions as simple as peaceful climate activism, and will further deepen the divide between the profession and its regulator.

“One positive to take away is that physician associates and anaesthesia associates will be renamed ‘assistants’, going some way to ending the confusion for patients. However, one of the best ways to ensure there is no confusion about who is or isn’t a doctor and to protect patient safety, is to have separate regulators, keeping the GMC as the doctor’s regulator. 

“As this is a consultation, which we will be responding to in detail, there is still an opportunity for the true reform that is needed. The GMC still has an opportunity to regain the confidence of the profession it regulates but the Government’s plans put that at risk.” 

Notes to editors

The BMA is a professional association and trade union representing and negotiating on behalf of all doctors in the UK. A leading voice advocating for outstanding health care and a healthy population. An association providing members with excellent individual services and support throughout their lives.

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