Proactively protecting members’ health and wellbeing
22 Jun 2026
Estimated read time:
2 min read
Medical Protection CEO, Karen Miller, shares some exciting news on how we influenced UK government policy.
Sustained lobbying by Medical Protection has produced a terrific result, with confirmation that health will be retained as a category of impairment in General Medical Council (GMC) investigations.
In a previous Casebook article, I outlined how Medical Protection had coordinated a joint letter signed by 32 medical organisations urging Karin Smyth MP – Minister of State for Health – to retain existing safeguards in GMC investigations.
We took this action in response to proposals from previous governments which would have required concerns relating to doctors experiencing adverse physical or mental health to be investigated under “inability to provide care to a sufficient standard” or “misconduct”.
These proposals would have removed ‘health’ as a category of impairment – a change we argued would be a significant backward step. It risked making investigations less sensitive to doctors’ individual circumstances and could have deterred them from seeking help at an earlier stage.
Importance of health as an impairment category
The impact of a GMC investigation on doctors’ mental wellbeing is well documented. In a Medical Protection survey of nearly 200 doctors, 78% said it harmed their mental health and almost 31% reported experiencing suicidal thoughts during the process.
Current provisions within the Medical Act – particularly the ability to investigate doctors under the health category – have been central to supporting a more compassionate and proportionate approach.
In these cases, the GMC can use language which acknowledges a doctor’s health concerns without relying on terminology associated with misconduct. It allows measures to protect doctors where appropriate, including holding hearings in private and redacting published material relating to health, while maintaining a clear focus on patient safety and supporting recovery and return to practice.
A win for doctors
The UK government has now announced a package of reforms to modernise the GMC, which takes these concerns into account.
As part of these reforms, the government has proposed to retain the distinct ‘health’ category under which doctors with existing health concerns can be investigated. The announcement states:
“Following the announcement in May 2025 that the government would modernise GMC’s legislative framework, several stakeholders requested that adverse physical or mental health remains a separate ground for action, highlighting that health is a separate ground for action under the Medical Act 1983 and that GMC currently manages health cases compassionately.
The government has considered the concerns raised by stakeholders and has included a separate ground for action of adverse physical or mental health in the draft order, on the basis that this should enable GMC to continue to manage health cases with empathy and compassion.”
We welcome the government listening to concerns raised by the medical community and recognising the importance of retaining a compassionate approach to the most vulnerable doctors.
This impact is likely to be even greater for those who already have health concerns.
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