BMA responds to proposals on the GMC

The BMA agrees that the powers of the General Medical Council should be enhanced to allow it to better protect the public.

In its response to the NHS Executive's consultation document, Modernising medical regulation: interim strengthening of the GMC's fitness to practise procedures, the association agrees that interim suspension should be possible where a doctor's conduct is putting patient safety at risk. It points out that suspension has severe implications for a doctor's income and contractual relationship. For GPs, the BMA suggests that the NHS tribunal would be a more effective body to order suspensions as this would protect doctors' pay and contractual relationships.

The NHS Executive proposes that doctors whose names are erased from the register should not be able to apply for restoration in less than five years. The BMA agrees with theGMC that the period should be three years. It points out that after five years it wouldbe virtually impossible for a doctor to make up the lost ground. It might be argued that a five year ban, which would amount to a life exclusion, would be in contravention of human rights …