Introduction
The General Medical Council is the independent regulator for doctors in the UK. Our job is to ensure that patients can have confidence in doctors.
Our statutory powers and duties are to protect, promote and maintain the health and safety of the public by ensuring proper standards in the practice of medicine.
We ensure:
- the fitness for purpose of the Medical Register and the fitness to practise of those on it;
- co-ordinate all stages of medical education and set educational standards for medical schools;
- determine the principles and values that underpin good medical practice; and
- take firm, fair, action when fitness to practise is impaired.
In February 2007, the Government published the White Paper, Trust, Assurance and Safety – the Regulation of Health Professionals in the 21st Century, outlining a programme of reform for the regulation of all health professionals in the UK.
The White Paper sets out a challenging programme, which includes many of the proposals we had published in November 2006. Those proposals build on the reforms we had already undertaken to modernise medical regulation. We welcomed publication of the Health and Social Care Bill, in November 2007, as a further step towards implementation of the White Paper.
A central, overarching priority for us in 2008 will be establishing a modern framework of medical regulation, which commands the confidence and support of those who receive and provide healthcare in the UK.