Minister to look again at NHS bill's threat to GMC

British doctors' concerns about government interference with the current system of professionalself regulation by the General Medical Council were voiced during the second reading of the HealthBill in the House of Lords last week. The discussion led to a junior health minister promising to reconsider the issue.

The bill empowers the government to modify the regulatory system by order in council rather than the current requirement for primary legislation. A former GMC president, Lord Walton, called thenew …