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16 Registration, the GMC and the Medical Act
The Medical Act is the legislation that established the GMC and registration arrangements. It also sets out the requirements of medical education and experience as part of training upto full registration.
The law gives the GMC four main functions under the Medical Act:
- keeping up-to-date registers of qualified doctors
- fostering good medical practice
- promoting high standards of medical education
- dealing firmly and fairly with doctors whose fitness to practise is in doubt.
Registration exists to show the public that doctors are fit to practise, as part of a profession with nationally recognised standards set by law. The Medical Act states that the main objective of the GMC is ‘to protect, promote and maintain the health and safety of the public'. The advisory guidance set out here is in line with that objective.