Regulating doctors, ensuring good medical practice

The GMC in Wales - Recent activity

General Medical Council - Public and patient event on confidentiality Monday 7th December

You are invited to attend a discussion session hosted by the General Medical Council Wales on the implications of the new guidance and what it could mean for you. The type of issues which are covered by the guidance are:  
  • Sharing information with those close to the patient: What information should doctors share with those close to a patient? Can they discuss concerns that those close to a patient may have about the patient’s health? 
  • Reporting concerns to the DVLA: Should doctors tell the DVLA or DVA when a patient isn’t fit to drive? 
  • Disclosures to protect the patient: Should doctors disclose information about competent adults for their protection, even if the patient refuses to allow that information to be disclosed? 
  • Disclosing information about serious communicable diseases: Should doctors warn a patient’s partner that they’re at risk of HIV if the patient can’t be persuaded to tell them? 
  • Reporting gun shot and knife wounds: What should doctors do in respect of serious crimes like this?

New GMC guidance on end of life treatment and care launched in Wales

14 June 2010

The GMC launched its new guidance Treatment and care towards the end of life: good practice in decision making at Llandough Hospital on the 14th June 2010.  The guidance comes into effect on 1 July 2010 and replaces the booklet Withholding and withdrawing life-prolonging treatments: Good practice in decision-making (2002).  Hard copies are available on request. The key purpose of the guidance is to help doctors navigate the complex issues often raised in such a complicated and sensitive area of health care. To ensure the delivery of good medical practice across the UK, it is important all doctors familiarise themselves with the guidance. It may also prove useful for other health care professionals, patients and carers. Equality, dignity and respect for the individual are key themes in the guidance and it emphasises that improving communication between doctors, patients, family and carers and the healthcare team is vital to providing good care towards the end of life. Important additions to the new guidance include:

  • Advice on advance care planning and responding to requests for treatment
  • Handling decisions involving neonatal and infant care
  • Approaching discussions about organ and tissue donation
  • Doctors’ responsibilities to the patient after death
  • Making decisions on clinically assisted nutrition and hydration.

The guidance is the outcome of a two-year development period which included consultation with a wide range of individuals and organisations across Wales and the rest of the UK with an interest in end of life care including doctors, charities, medical organisations, major world faiths, patients with life limiting or terminal illness and their families and carers.  This input has helped shape the advice we have published.   We would like to take this opportunity to thank those who contributed to the review and for taking the time to provide comments during the consultation process.

GMC Council meeting in Cardiff

23 October 2009

The General Medical Council (GMC), which regulates 11,000 doctors registered in Wales held the first meeting of its reconstituted Council outside London in Cardiff on 22 October.
The meeting in Cardiff provided a valuable opportunity to improve understanding of the devolved political landscape in Wales, as well as giving the GMC's new Chair Professor Peter Rubin and Council members an opportunity to engage directly with local patient groups and other key figures from the health sector.

The General Medical Council regulates all doctors registered in the UK. However, with increasingly divergent health structures and health policy across the UK, the GMC has established offices in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to respond effectively to devolution and to ensure regulation remains appropriate in each part of the UK.

Meeting in Wales gives members of the public and other key groups the opportunity to see exactly what we do and how the Council make decisions.  Our Cardiff office is well established and has strong relationships with the local health community. It is important that we continue to work closely with officials and stakeholders across Wales to enable the GMC to be responsive to the local context, and ensure we have the confidence and support of those who receive and provide healthcare."

How will Medical revalidation affect you?

Cardiff, 21 October 2009  

On 21 October the GMC along with BMA Wales, the Welsh Assembly Government, the Postgraduate Deanery and the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges hosted a one-day conference on Revalidation.   The event was attended by doctors from all over Wales, who heard presentations from the organisations responsible for delivering revalidation.  The afternoon, chaired by Dr Tony Jewell, the Chief Medical Officer for Wales, featured a lively question and answer session with Peter Rubin, Chair of the GMC, and other speakers.”  Video of conference

End of Life Care Consultation Events in Wales

26 June 2009

The GMC recently consulted on guidance for doctors on good practice in the care of patients nearing the end of life. The aim of the guidance is to ensure that all doctors are aware of the ethical and legal principles that underpin the end of life care and are supported by an agreed decision-making framework.

The guidance also lets patients know what they can expect from their doctors and informs medical education and training shaping the knowledge and attitude of future doctors.

Two events were held, at International Pavilion, Royal Welsh Showground, Builth Wells, Powys and Victor Salvi Room, Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff.