We have called on the General Medical Council (GMC) to reconsider its vision for the List of Registered Medical Practitioners (LRMP).¹ We are deeply concerned that any increase in the amount of information the register contains about doctors risks the accuracy and dependability of the register and will place extra burdens on doctors.

We also argue that such a move is outside of the remit of the regulator and will see the GMC housing information that is better stored elsewhere.

Dr Pallavi Bradshaw, Senior Medicolegal Adviser at Medical Protection, said: “First and foremost, the GMC is a regulator. We have serious concerns about the GMC’s proposals to add substantially more information to the register than is necessary. It is not the job of the GMC to act as a quasi-advertising platform, or for it to replicate and provide information – such as links to recognised feedback websites, and to data held and verified by other recognised bodies - that can be housed elsewhere.

“The GMC’s ambition should be for information held on the register to be fully up-to-date, accurate, and dependable. This is the register’s core purpose and current function, and should remain so.

“We are firmly of the belief that any expansion would be a risk to its robustness, and to its status as a fully up-to-date source of information.”

References

1. The GMC, Developing the UK Medical Register (2016): A public consultation

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