GMC signs up to joint approach to addressing concerns raised by doctors

Published 15 June 2018

The General Medical Council (GMC) has today (Friday 15 June) signed up to a joint statement with other organisations on a commitment to address issues around exception reporting – the process by which doctors raise safety concerns.

Exception reporting is a mechanism for trainee doctors in England to report concerns they have about impacts of working in under-resourced environments. But since its introduction, in 2016, organisational cultures, staff engagement and differences in local processes have all impacted on its effectiveness.

"Doctors need to have confidence that if they raise a concern then action will be taken. Exception reporting, when it works as it should, can improve the quality of medical education and safeguard patient safety, as well as helping the morale of doctors in training."

Charlie Massey

GMC Chief Executive

Now the GMC, together with NHS Improvement, the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, the British Medical Association, the Care Quality Commission, Health Education England and NHS Employers, have agreed a joint approach to improving exception reporting.

Charlie Massey, the GMC’s Chief Executive, said: ‘Doctors need to have confidence that if they raise a concern then action will be taken. Exception reporting, when it works as it should, can improve the quality of medical education and safeguard patient safety, as well as helping the morale of doctors in training.

‘A collaborative and cross-organisational approach is necessary to streamline and standardise the process, and then to encourage a culture in which trainees feel able to speak up when necessary.’

Although the exception reporting joint statement only applies to England, the GMC is currently working with partner organisations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to find ways of improving the consistency of rota monitoring, and supporting doctors in training, in those countries.

In addition, the GMC has a programme of work to help address long-standing underlying issues affecting the medical profession. This includes commissioning independent reviews of how cases of gross negligence manslaughter, and culpable homicide in Scotland, involving doctors are initiated and investigated, and to better understand why some doctors are referred for fitness to practice issues more than others.

Read the full joint statement, signed by the GMC and other organisations

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Notes to editors

The GMC Press Office can be contacted on 020 7189 5454, or email press@gmc-uk.org

The GMC has a programme of work to help address long-standing underlying issues affecting the medical profession. This includes:

  • Review of gross negligence manslaughter: The GMC has commissioned Dame Clare Marx to lead an independent, UK-wide review of gross negligence manslaughter, and culpable homicide in Scotland, and to consider what might be done to improve the application of the existing law in cases involving doctors.
  • Reflection: Later this year the GMC, in partnership with doctors in training, educators, and medical leaders, will jointly publish updated guidance on reflective practice. In addition, the GMC is discussing with other professional regulators how team-based reflection can be better supported. The GMC told the Williams Review, set up by the Health Secretary, that it believes doctors’ reflections are so fundamental to their professionalism that UK and devolved governments should consider how to protect them in law. The Review did not choose to recommend this.
  • Mental Health and wellbeing: This year the GMC started an important programme of work looking at the mental health and wellbeing of the entire medical workforce. It follows work between the GMC and Professor Louis Appleby to reduce the stress that regulatory processes can have on doctors. Tiredness, stress and health problems can impact safe patient care and cause doctors to leave the profession early or during training. The GMC recognises that more can be done to improve the wellbeing of doctors, especially in the workplace.
  • Fitness to practise referrals: The GMC has commissioned a major project, led by Roger Kline and Dr Doyin Atewologun, to better understand why some doctors are more likely to be referred to it for fitness to practise issues more than others.
  • Support for doctors returning to work: Good quality inductions, mentoring schemes and access to other support mechanisms are important ways of making sure doctors can deliver safe and effective care as soon as they start a new job. The GMC is working with healthcare providers so doctors feel supported when they begin a new role or when they return to practice after time away.

The General Medical Council (GMC) works to protect the public by setting, upholding and raising the standards of medical education and practice across the UK.

It does this by:

  • Setting the standards doctors must follow, making sure they continue to meet these standards throughout their careers.
  • Deciding which doctors are qualified to work here, and overseeing UK medical education and training.
  • Taking action if a doctor is putting the safety of patients, or the public’s confidence in doctors, at risk.

It is in the public interest to have healthcare systems in the UK, both public and private, where doctors practise to the highest ethical and professional standards to provide the best possible, safe medical care.

The GMC is independent of government and the medical profession, and accountable to the UK Parliament.

To find out more visit our website www.gmc-uk.org.

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