GMC hails “historic” changes to governing council

The General Medical Council will appoint its next chair through an open application system rather than by electing the chair from the council’s membership.

This change, described as “historic” by the GMC’s chief executive, Niall Dickson, will increase the openness and transparency of the recruitment process, enable the council to seek applicants from a much wider field, and help ensure that people with the specific qualities needed to chair the council can be appointed.

The GMC’s governing council will also halve in size, from 24 to 12 members, with the aim of “creating more board-like councils focused on strategic leadership,” the Department of Health has said.

The governing council ensures that the GMC is properly managed and that it fulfils its statutory and charitable purposes to protect and promote the health and safety of the public by ensuring proper standards in the practice of medicine. The council currently comprises 12 lay and 12 medical members, at least one of whom lives or works wholly or mainly in each of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

Council chairs are currently elected from among the council members and formally appointed by the government’s Privy Council. The next chair and council members, who will take over when the terms of office of the current members end in December 2012, will instead be recruited directly to the post by the GMC after approval by the Privy Council.

The changes to the GMC’s governing council follow a consultation held earlier this year on updating the constitution orders of the GMC and the General Dental Council (GDC).

Nearly three quarters (73%) of respondents to the consultation, including the GMC, agreed with the move to having an appointed chair, but more than two thirds (68%) did not support reducing the number of council members to eight, arguing that it would be difficult to ensure the right mix of skills, knowledge, and experience on the council. Instead most respondents (75%) thought that the right number of council members to ensure the necessary expertise in governance would be 12.

The BMA has opposed the proposal that the chair of the GMC be appointed from outside the council and the reduction in the number of council members. Its annual representative meeting in Bournemouth last week passed a motion calling on the association to lobby the government and appropriate stakeholders to remove the cost burden of running the GMC from doctors if the changes are imposed.