The General Medical Council has today launched a major consultation on its core guidance for doctors in the UK. Every doctor is expected to meet the standards set by the GMC in 'Good Medical Practice'.
There are more than 350 million consultations between doctors and patients in the UK each year(1), and every one of them is governed by Good Medical Practice.
In the new draft, doctors are asked to take a lead role in making sure a patient’s safety, comfort and dignity are always maintained throughout their care.
‘The new guidance reflects the challenges doctors face every day as they treat and care for patients. Good Medical Practice sets out the principles and values on which high-quality patient care is founded. It is vital that we hear from patients and doctors across the UK about the new standards that we are proposing.’
The GMC is suggesting through the consultation, that doctors should have greater influence over all areas of a patient’s care. And doctors should be responsible for continuity of care when they are the patient’s lead clinician.
The draft guidance also calls on doctors to take prompt action to deal with problems with basic care, particularly for patients who are unable to drink, feed or clean themselves. Doctors must also offer help if they think a child or vulnerable adult’s rights might have been abused or denied.
Niall Dickson added:
‘This guidance makes clear that a doctor’s responsibilities do not begin and end with providing clinical treatment. They have a vital role to play to improve standards of basic care. When this goes wrong, as it did at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust and elsewhere, patients can face serious harm.’
In response to recommendations from doctors and patients that it should be more concise and more patient-centred, the revised edition of Good Medical Practice is considerably shorter than the current guidance.
The consultation asks doctors and patients to answer a number of questions, including if doctors should avoid treating themselves and those close to them.
You can submit your response to the consultation via the GMC’s consultation website www.gmc-uk.org/gmp2012. The consultation will run until 10 February 2012.
Notes to editors:
(1) The above statistic is based on the latest available data for UK doctor consultations per capita and the UK population. The number of UK doctor consultations per capita was sourced from The OECD Health Data 2008 and includes primary care consultations and NHS Hospital outpatient department consultations only. It does not include consultations with doctors in the private sector or take into account consultations with doctors in inpatient settings (secondary and tertiary care). The UK population figure was sourced from The Office of National Statistics 2010.
(2) We will be publishing guidance on doctors’ use of social networking in 2012.
The final version of Good Medical Practice as well as the patient guide, explanatory guidance notes and learning materials are due to be launched in autumn 2012. The final version will replace the current 2006 guidance.
As well as underpinning what is expected for all medical practice in the UK, the guidance is used as the basis for the standards in the undergraduate curriculum, the structure for appraisals and from the end of next year, it will be at the centre of the revalidation process.
The new version is structured under four broad areas which will be the same as those used by doctors for appraisal and revalidation:
- Knowledge skills and performance
- Safety and quality
- Communication, partnership and teamwork
- Maintaining trust
Alongside the basic guidance there will be new explanatory materials on financial and commercial interests, ending relationships with patients, delegation and referrals and working with colleagues. There will also be more detailed guidance on doctors’ use of social media.
Consultation
We have developed a set of three consultation questionnaires which are aimed at different audiences.
You can download a PDF version of the questionnaires and the draft guidance on our website at www.gmc-uk.org/gmp2012. You can submit your response to the consultation using the GMC’s consultation website at https://gmc.e-consultation.net/econsult.
Consultation focus groups will also be held across the UK throughout the consultation. Information is available on the GMC website: www.gmc-uk.org/gmp2012
For further information please contact the Media Relations Office on 020 7189 5454, out of hours 020 7189 5444/ 07920 461497, email press@gmc-uk.org, website www.gmc-uk.org.
The General Medical Council registers and licenses doctors to practise medicine in the UK.
The law gives us four main functions:
- keeping up-to-date registers of qualified doctors
- fostering good medical practice
- promoting high standards of medical education and training
- dealing firmly and fairly with doctors whose fitness to practise is in doubt
