The government is seeking to bring about reforms to enable it to sack antisemitic and racist doctors.
On Tuesday the government announced a new consultation on the General Medical Council (GMC) Order – the legislation governing the regulation of doctors – with the aim of making the system better equipped to protect patients and NHS staff.
The announcement is the most significant overhaul of the regulation of medical professionals since 1983. The JC understands that the consultation will be public and will last for a period of three months.
In November last year, the government asked Lord Mann, the government’s independent adviser on antisemitism, to carry out a review into antisemitism and racism in the NHS after it deemed that the GMC was unable to act decisively against doctors expressing racist and antisemitic language, especially on social media.
The key changes – which aim to increase oversight of the GMC –include allowing it to retain its existing right to appeal decisions made by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) to the Courts, ensuring there are a robust checks on fitness to practise outcomes; to grant new powers to the Professional Standards Authority (PSA) to challenge decisions by the MPTS and to require regulators to share information with the PSA to strengthen its ability to scrutinise regulatory decisions and, if necessary, intervene.
Wes Streeting, the health secretary, said: "The NHS is a universal health service, which means that everyone, regardless of race, religion, or belief, should feel safe seeking its care. It is unacceptable that this is not the current reality for many patients and staff, and I will not allow it to continue.
“I am grateful to Lord Mann for his rapid investigation into how we can overhaul the current system and I look forward to setting his common-sense recommendations in motion to ensure NHS patients and staff get the protection they expect.”
Lord Mann said: "Racism, including anti-Jewish racism, has no place in the health sector or our NHS, and those who engage in it should face swift and meaningful consequences. For too long, the system has been too slow and too cumbersome to deliver that. These reforms will help deliver change. I am pleased that the government has moved quickly to act on my recommendations, and I look forward to working with it to implement the rest of my review."
The GMC’s chief executive and registrar Charlie Massey said that: “Patients rightly expect assurance that doctors, PAs and AAs are safe to practise and can be held to account if serious concerns are raised. These proposed reforms will allow us to respond more quickly and flexibly when patient safety is at risk.”
Massey continued: “They will also allow us to further improve our efficiency and effectiveness, while at the same time enabling us to help patients navigate the complaints and concerns process more easily.”
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