he General Medical Council has maintained all 18 standards of good regulation from its most recent PSA review.  Key findings of the 2022 report by the PSA were:
  • This year, the GMC has continued work towards its Equality, Diversity and Inclusion fairness targets. It has also worked on two reviews arising from specific concerns: its Regulatory Fairness Review and its learning review of the case of Dr Arora. We will closely monitor how it responds to the recommendations from these reviews.
  • The GMC launched its consultation on the review of Good Medical Practice this year. The GMC will also review 10 pieces of explanatory guidance; we think it is important that this review includes incorporating recommendations for doctors using social media into formal guidance.
  • The GMC has continued its work to bring Physician Associates (PAs) and Anaesthesia Associates (AAs) into regulation. In this review period, it has designed routes to registration for existing and future PAs and AAs, and has published standards for education. The GMC is considering revalidation options for PAs and AAs, and intends to engage with stakeholders.
  • In fitness to practise, there have been some improvements in how long it takes to progress cases, as the GMC recovers from the effects of the pandemic, though the overall time taken remains longer than we would wish. The GMC has reduced its caseload and number of old cases since last year. We note this as positive progress, however we expect the current trends to continue and significant improvements to performance.
Charlie Massey, GMC Chief Executive said:
‘At a time when the medical profession continues to be under immense pressure, it is more important than ever that we uphold our high standards of regulation and support the thousands of dedicated registrants to promote patient safety. ‘We remain committed to eliminating the discrimination experienced by some ethnic minority doctors which is why we continue to work towards tackling disproportionality in both medical education and fitness to practise referrals. This includes learning from cases where we could have done better, which is why we have accepted, without hesitation, the recommendations made to us following an independent review of the Dr Arora case.  ‘As we continue to support the NHS meet the demands of modern patient care, we are determined to be a compassionate, fair and supportive regulator, which will contribute to a better health system for professionals and patients.’
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