BMJ  2007;334:451 (3 March), doi:10.1136/bmj.39136.524826.AD

Feature

Will we be getting good doctors and safer patients?

British Medical Association, London WC1H 9JP

Last week, the Department of Health announced its plans for reforming regulation of doctors. The BMJ asked some of those affected for their opinions

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

I argued in November that the chief medical officer's proposals for reforming and restructuring the General Medical Council represented a major assault on the principle of professionally led regulation.¹ The white paper Trust, Assurance and Safety sweeps that principle aside completely and for all health professionals.²

Government has accepted Janet Smith's argument that being an elected member of a regulatory body, and by implication accountable to a constituency of fellow professionals, is not compatible with acting independently in the public interest. The white paper repeatedly refers to the risk that the standing of a regulator is impaired if the public perceives it to be in hock to the profession it regulates. However, there must be an equally substantial risk that public confidence in the independence of their doctors is undermined if patients believe them to be under state control. Government needs to face up to the reality that 25 years . . . [Full text of this article]

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