BMJ  2006;333:719 (7 October), doi:10.1136/bmj.333.7571.719-b

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GMC recommends scrapping medical majority on its council

BMJ

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The General Medical Council is to recommend scrapping the automatic majority of doctors on its governing council. This would end the longstanding principle of self regulation of the medical profession in the United Kingdom.

The 35 member governing council has agreed that "despite the constitutional changes that we have made in recent years, the professional majority on the council undermines confidence in our independence and because of that it impacts adversely on our ability to regulate effectively."

It wants to move to a "balanced composition" reflecting its four main stakeholders: patients and the public, doctors, doctors' employers, and doctors' educators and trainers. None of the four groups will have an in-built majority.

The change could see equal numbers of lay and medical members, spelling the end of the "professionally led regulation" now delivered by the GMC, 40% of whose council members are lay people.

The proposal will be put forward . . . [Full text of this article]

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