Published 11 June 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b2360
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b2360

News

Peter Rubin: Getting the regulation balance right

Clare Dyer

1 BMJ

Clare Dyer talks to Peter Rubin, the new head of the General Medical Council about tackling patients’ concerns with doctors without losing sight of the profession’s interests

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

"I’m not fussed about being loved or liked; I am fussed about being respected," says Peter Rubin, the new chairman of the General Medical Council. He shrugs off brickbats from doctors who fear and dislike the UK medical regulator and accuse it of jettisoning the profession’s interests and caving in to government demands for reform.

The body is regularly pilloried by both its main interest groups: the profession sees it as trigger happy, too ready to take up frivolous or vexatious complaints against doctors, and patients’ groups, such as Action for Victims of Medical Accidents, claim the doctors’ regulator is slow to act in the face of patients’ concerns.

Paediatricians charge the GMC with scaring off doctors from child protection work by heavy handed action against two leading figures in the field, Roy Meadow and David Southall. In a letter to the Lancet last month, Professionals Against Child Abuse accused . . . [Full text of this article]


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