GMC approves reform

The GMC has been the subject of much criticism

Members of the General Medical Council have approved plans for fundamental reform of the doctors' regulatory body.

Members hope the re-structuring, approved at a GMC meeting on Wednesday, will make the council more responsive to the views of the public.

They also hope that it will answer the accusation that the GMC simply exists to protect the interests of doctors, and deter the government from any move to scrap self-regulation.

The reality is that today is the last chance for the GMC to take destiny into its own hands

Professor Denis McDevitt

Critics point to the GMC's failure to prevent scandals such as the Bristol heart babies and the excesses of errant gynaecologists Rodney Ledward and Richard Neale.

Even the British Medical Association passed a vote of no confidence in the council at its annual meeting in 2000.

One of the main changes will be to increase the proportion of members who are not doctors to ensure that the lay point of view is strongly represented.

Medical members

However, it is planned to keep an overall majority of elected medical members.

The GMC will be reduced from 104 members to 35, of which 14 will not be doctors.

Initially, the GMC planned to create an even smaller executive body, supported by a much larger "standing conference" of 100 to 200 members.

However, the plans were modified after opposition from within the medical profession.

GMC member Professor Denis McDevitt said: "The reality is that today is the last chance for the GMC to take destiny into its own hands.

"If we fail, there is a real possibility that others outside this room will intervene and we will end up with something far worse than what is being suggested here."

The BMA Council backed the new plans at a meeting earlier this month.

A spokesman said: "We are delighted that the profession has come together with patients to agree on a way forward.

"What is most important, however, is not the structure of the new GMC but how it delivers effectively to patients and doctors."

Justified

Dr Fay Wilson, a GP in Birmingham and a member of both the GMC and the BMA Council, told BBC News Online that it was important that the council responded to its critics, who were to some extent justified.

She said a more streamlined council would be more able to act quickly.

She said the increased input of lay members would also ensure a diversity of opinion.

"At present the GMC is a bit like parliament, there are not a lot of very snappy, well organised debates.

"Hopefully, the new version will be better able to the way things change in the modern world."

More work will be done on the recommendations before the GMC meets again in November to finally endorse the reforms.