September 2007

A communication from the General Medical Council
September 2007, Issue 38

What's New?

Welcome to the September edition of the GMC e-bulletin

This edition introduces a major piece of new guidance for doctors setting out doctors’ responsibilities to children and young people. We also feature the changes that are taking place in our registration procedures through the abolition of limited registration and the introduction of approved practice settings.

Please continue to send us your feedback, questions and ideas for topics you would like to see covered in future editions.

0-18 years: guidance for all doctors

The GMC has issued new guidance which sets out doctors’ responsibilities towards children and young people. 0-18 years: guidance for all doctors will come into force on 15 October 2007.

All doctors have a duty to safeguard and protect the health and well-being of children and young people, and the new guidanceprovides advice on many of the complex and sensitive issues which doctors may face, including:

  • Confidentiality
  • Child Protection
  • Communicating effectively with children and young people

The guidance is applicable to all doctors, whether or not they regularly see children and young people as patients. All doctors will, at some point, have patients who care for – or are cared for by – children and young people, and should have regard for their welfare. Some doctors may have patients who pose a risk to children and young people and the new guidancewill help them to make decisions that are in the best interests of children and young people.

The guidance has been developed following an extensive consultation process which sought the views of the medical profession, patient and public bodies, and others with an interest in young peoples’ care. We have also, for the first time, consulted directly with children and young people themselves to ensure the guidance takes account of their views and experiences.

Click here to read 0-18 years: guidance for all doctors online.

If you would like more information or would like to order copies of the guidance, email Suzanne Fuller in the Standard and Ethics Team or telephone 020 7189 5440.

New Registration Framework for Doctors

19 October 2007 sees the launch of the GMC's new registration framework for doctors. This involves the abolition of limited registration and the introduction of approved practice settings. An approved practice setting (APS) is one which has systems for the effective management of doctors; for identifying and acting upon concerns about doctors’ fitness to practise; to support the provision of relevant training or continuing professional development; and for providing regulatory assurance.

The purpose of introducing approved practice settings is to ensure that doctors unfamiliar with current UK medical practice work within environments where supportive and quality assured systems, aimed at improving standards, are in operation. 

From 19 October 2007, all doctors granted full registration for the first time – UK graduates as well as international – or returning to the register after a prolonged period out of UK practice, will be required to work initially within an approved practice setting.

These changes have significant operational implications. Any organisation which employs or contracts with newly fully registered doctors, or doctors returning to the register after a prolonged period out of UK practice, will need to ensure it is an approved practice setting. Organisations which are not approved practice settings will not be able to employ or contract with newly fully registered (or re-registered) doctors after 19 October 2007.

The GMC is writing to Chief Executives of Trusts across the UK to inform them of their organisation’s APS status.
Please help us to make sure that your organisation is aware of these changes.

Key features of the new framework

  • Limited Registration - a category of registration which currently applies only to international medical graduates (IMGs) - will be abolished.
  • The new framework of provisional and full registration will apply equally to all doctors no matter where they qualify.
  • IMGs will in future be able to apply directly for provisional or full registration. They will still need to satisfy rigorous criteria before we can grant them registration, but will no longer need an offer of employment beforehand.
  • All doctors granted full registration for the first time – UK graduates as well as IMGs – or returning to the register after a prolonged period out of UK practice, will be required to work initially within an approved practice setting.
  • Approved practice settings are organisations which provide a suitable environment for newly fully registered doctors.
  • All doctors granted provisional registration will continue to be restricted to working in a programme for provisionally registered doctors, currently Foundation Year 1.

If you would like more information, please visit http://www.gmc-uk.org/doctors/new_framework/index.asp or email nrf@gmc-uk.org.

Supporting Medical Students with Disabilities: a consultative conference

The GMC is leading a project to develop guidance for medical schools on the entry of disabled people into medicine.
Development of the guidance is financially supported by 11 medical schools and match-funded by the Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills.

This project takes forward the GMC’s commitment to promote equality and diversity.

A draft of the guidance will be considered at a consultative conference on Friday 7 December 2007. The conference will be held over one full day at The British Library in London. Places are limited, so to register your place email Karen Thompson or telephone 020 7189 5285.

Please click here for further details.

The final guidance will be published by April 2008.

Consultation on the Mental Capacity Act 2005

The Department of Health and the Ministry of Justice have launched a joint consultation on the Mental Capacity Act 2005: deprivation of liberty safeguards.  The Act and its statutory Code of Practice impacts on doctors in England and Wales, where they work with, or care for, adults (16+) who may lack mental capacity to make their own decisions about treatment and care.

It is important that, as steps are taken to implement these changes, doctors and other healthcare professionals understand what is expected of them. The 12-week consultation opened on 10 September 2007 and closes on 2 December 2007.

The consultation documents can be downloaded from the Department of Health website. Submissions can be made to: safeguardsconsultation@guardianship.gsi.gov.uk.

Crerar recommends radical shake-up of Scottish public service scrutiny

The GMC has been invited to sit on the Steering Group for Health Rights Information Scotland (HRIS). HRIS is a project based within the Scottish Consumer Council, and funded by the Scottish Government Health Directorates. It is a joint initiative to raise the quality of information available to patients in the NHS. HRIS produces information for patients about their rights, how to use NHS services, and what they can expect from NHS Scotland.

The Steering Group acts in an advisory capacity for HRIS and provides appropriate links with the NHS, voluntary sector, regulatory bodies, academics, patient groups and others. The GMC in Scotland has close links with HRIS and has worked on the project for a number of years on the development of information for patients and public.

GMC joins Scottish Steering Group for Health Rights Information Scotland

The Scottish Government has announced its legislative and policy programme for the current Parliamentary term, Principles & Priorities: The Government’s Programme for Scotland. The programme includes a Public Health Bill, which continues work in hand to modernise Scotland’s public health legislation.

A Patients’ Rights Bill will introduce an extension of patients’ rights including a legally backed 18-week maximum waiting time for treatment. The most contentious piece of proposed legislation on health is the Local Healthcare Bill, which introduces direct elections to health boards. This bill also contains a proposal to phase out prescription charges. Equally contentious is a proposal to make GP surgery opening hours more flexible.

Other health-related measures in the Government’s programme include raising the legal age for buying tobacco to 18 and introducing health checks in schools. The Government has promised to publish a comprehensive health strategy by the end of the year and has issued a discussion document, Better Health, Better Care.

Scottish Government announces new 'Programme for Scotland'

The GMC understands that the DHSSPS is to hold two consultation events on the Government White Paper on professional regulation, Trust, Assurance and Safety – The Regulation of Health Professionals in the 21st Century. The first will take place in Belfast on 20 September, the second in Omagh on 25 September 2007. The purpose of the events is to discuss the implications of the recommendations contained in the White Paper for Northern Ireland and to assist the Department in developing mechanisms to facilitate input at the national level. The GMC Chief Executive, Finlay Scott, will be one of the speakers at both events.

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