Regulating doctors, ensuring good medical practice

About the review

On this page, you can find out about the Review of Good Medical Practice.

What is Good Medical Practice?

Good Medical Practice (2006) is the core guidance to doctors and describes what is expected of all doctors registered with the GMC. Although the guidance is addressed to doctors, it is also intended to let the public know what they can expect from their doctors.

We are reviewing Good Medical Practice to make sure it is up to date and fit for its many purposes. The review will lead to publication of a new edition of Good Medical Practice in 2012.

The Working Group

The review is being overseen by the GMP Review Working Group chaired by Professor Jim McKillop, a medical member of the GMC. It is made up of members of the Council who are:

  • Ms Sally Hawkins (lay member)
  • Dr John Jenkins (medical member)
  • Ms Ros Levenson (lay member and Chair of the GMC's Standards & Ethics Committee)
  • Professor Iqbal Singh (medical member)
  • Mr Stephen Whittle (lay member)

What can I find on these pages?

Throughout the review, we published content aimed at getting doctors, patients, employers and others with an interest in what makes a good doctor, involved in the review. We encouraged people to:

  • Vote in the latest episode of our ethical soap: ‘Julia’s Day’, in which we explore the dilemmas faced by a busy General Practitioner.
  • Read opinion pieces and personal views exploring the theme of the month including:
    • June’s question, ‘What makes a good doctor?'
    • July’s question, ‘Health inequalities: can individual doctors make a difference?’
    • August's question, 'What do you want to see in GMP?'
    • September's question, 'Should the GMC regulate doctor's lives outside medicine?'
    • October's question, 'Who gets care? Decisions about access.'
  • Take part in our online polls which ask for your views on the issues raised in our opinion pieces.

Consultation and engagement

We launched a public consultation on a revised version of Good Medical Practice in October 2011 and it closed in February 2012.

In the lead up to the consultation, we sought to generate discussion and debate using this website to raise awareness of the consultation to encourage people to take part and send us their views on the revised guidance.

We will publish a document summarising the consultation process, the responses we received, and how we used them to inform the content of Good Medical Practice when we publish the revised version at the end of 2012.

Keep in touch

If you would like more information about this content or the review in general, please contact the Standards and Ethics Team on 020 7189 5404 or email us at gmp2012@gmc-uk.org.