The state of medical education and practice

Later this month, we are publishing our first report on the state of medical education and practice.

The report uses GMC data and information from others to provide a picture of some of the opportunities and challenges facing the medical profession. The document identifies six areas where further debate or action is needed.

‘We recognise that we need to share the data we have more than we have done in the past and that we can do more to analyse and understand trends in both education and practice and reflect this back to the profession,’ said Niall Dickson, the Chief Executive of the GMC.

‘The report contains a rich source of information and analysis and I hope individual doctors as well as medical and other health organisations will find it useful and stimulating.’

What does the report cover?

Who the UK’s doctors are

The UK’s population of doctors is young (with a mode age of 33), more ethnically diverse than the general population, increasingly female, and as many as a third of UK doctors qualified overseas.

How well education and training are preparing doctors for practice

While education and training are generally of a good quality, they are not as responsive as they need to be to changes in healthcare needs or to the organisation and delivery of care.

There is an ongoing tension between the demands of service delivery and the need for protected time for training - the quality of supervision also varies.

There is unacceptable variation in standards of practice

A small but worrying minority of doctors fall seriously short of the professional standards set by the GMC. In 2010 we investigated one in 70 doctors and nearly one in 3,000 were removed from the register – the most serious outcome of our fitness to practise work.

We receive significantly more complaints about male doctors, older doctors and GPs and we need to understand why this is the case.

How to obtain a copy of the report

We will let you know through this e-bulletin when the report is published. But if you would like us to let you know as soon as it is available, please email KPhillips@gmc-uk.org.