Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

General Medical Council: Oversight Mechanisms

Tuesday 23 April 2024 · 3 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 0 Partly answered 3 Not answered 0

Key points

  • The General Medical Council has been constituted by Parliament to ensure that decisions about individual doctors are independent of both the profession and the Government of the day.
  • The GMC and other professional regulators have a statutory duty to investigate any concerns about the fitness to practice of one of their registrants and to take appropriate action to protect the public when that is needed.
  • The Government have committed to delivering 50 million more GP appointments and to making it easier throughout the country to see a doctor.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Anthony Mangnall
NHS
Context

The question arises from concerns about the adequacy of current governance and oversight for the General Medical Council.

Question

What assessment has been made of the adequacy of oversight mechanisms for the General Medical Council?

Answer from Andrew Stephenson

The General Medical Council has been constituted by Parliament to ensure that decisions about individual doctors are independent of both the profession and the Government of the day. The Professional Standards Authority oversees the work of all United Kingdom professional regulators and reports to Parliament on their operational performance. Parliament continues to set and oversee the principles and scope of the regulators' powers.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The adequacy assessment was not specifically addressed, focusing instead on existing mechanisms.

Was this summary accurate? Tell us

How accurate was this summary? (1 = poor, 5 = spot on)

Q2 Anthony Mangnall
Standards & Ethics
Context

Concerns about transparency in the General Medical Council's decision-making processes, particularly regarding appeal mechanisms.

Question

Good governance means ensuring transparency. One concern of my constituents is whether GMC decisions can be appealed. Will the Minister reassure me that we can have better transparency in the GMC on the decisions it makes?

Answer from Andrew Stephenson

The GMC and other professional regulators have a statutory duty to investigate any concerns about the fitness to practice of one of their registrants and to take appropriate action to protect the public when that is needed. The regulators are overseen by the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care, which has the power to appeal cases where, in its view, a sanction imposed by a regulator is insufficient to protect the public.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Specific reassurances about transparency were not provided, focusing on existing oversight and appeals mechanisms instead.

Was this summary accurate? Tell us

How accurate was this summary? (1 = poor, 5 = spot on)

Q3 Jim Shannon DUP Strangford
NHS
Context

Concerns about time constraints on GP appointments and their ability to meet GMC standards of care.

Question

The GMC has seven principles of decision making and consent. How will the Minister ensure that GPs can fulfil their obligations when time constraints on appointments mean they do not have time to listen to every complaint? People have to book a double appointment to talk about more than one issue. What further support can the Government give GPs to enable them to fulfil their GMC-ordered standards of care?

Answer from Andrew Stephenson

As the hon. Gentleman knows, the Government have committed to delivering 50 million more GP appointments and to making it easier throughout the country to see a doctor. In England in December, we delivered 25.77 million GP appointments compared with 23.31 million in December 2019—an increase of 2.46 million appointments each month. We need to continue to work with programmes such as Pharmacy First, and we are taking other steps to reduce the pressure on GPs so that they have more time to spend with their patients.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Specific support for meeting GMC standards was not directly addressed, focusing instead on appointment increases.

Was this summary accurate? Tell us

How accurate was this summary? (1 = poor, 5 = spot on)