The purpose of the General Medical Council (GMC) is to protect the public by maintaining a register of doctors who are competent and fit to practise medicine. The General Medical Council also maintains a specialist register of doctors who have completed specialist training. NHS consultants have to be on the GMC specialist register and general practitioners on the GP register.

Registration with the GMC

The General Medical Council maintains the medical register - a list of around 200,000.

Good Medical Practice

The General Medical Council has produced a wide variety of guidance on good medical practice. The most important of these are its 14 key principles - the duties of a doctor - and its publication on professional values and responsibilities, Good Medical Practice. As well as this the General Medical Council publishes guidance on broad topics like consent or confidentiality and specific issues, such as circumcision or the use of drugs to treat obesity.

The GMC is also introducing revalidation, a process by which doctors will have to demonstrate their fitness to practise on a regular basis.

Education

The General Medical Council is heavily involved in maintaining the standards of medical education. UK medical students are trained to the standards set out by its publication Tomorrow’s Doctors. The General Medical Council inspects medical schools to ensure these standards are being maintained, and can take action if they are not. It also publishes guidance for medical schools about student health and conduct, although students do not join the GMC register until they have qualified.

After qualification, the GMC sets the standards for the first year of the foundation programme. It also works with the royal colleges and other organisations to promote high standards of postgraduate and continuing professional development.

Fitness to Practise

The General Medical Council is best known to the public through its handling of complaints about doctors’ performance and alledged medical malpractice. It can take action against doctors when:

• They have been convicted of a criminal offence.
• There is an allegation of serious professional misconduct.
• Their professional performance may be seriously deficient.
• They may be unfit to practise because of health problems.

The GMC will investigate and assess the case, and has a range of options available, from a warning to removing the doctor’s name from the register