Doctors’ union leader calls for new independent medical regulator

The leader of the British Medical Association (BMA) has called for a new independent regulator, claiming the existing one is “failing to protect patients and support doctors”.

Professor Philip Banfield, chairman of council at the BMA, is expected to warn that the General Medical Council (GMC), the current regulator for doctors and some other medical professionals, has become an “abject failure” in his speech at the doctors’ union’s annual meeting in Liverpool on Monday.

The professional body for doctors has long criticised the watchdog over its use of the term “medical professionals” to describe all those it regulates – doctors as well as physician associates (PAs) and anaesthesia associates (AAs) – arguing that this blurs the lines between doctors and non-doctors.

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Graduates

PAs are graduates – usually with a health or life sciences degree – who have undertaken two years of postgraduate training and support the work of doctors, while AAs work as part of the anaesthesia and wider surgical team.

In April, the BMA lost its High Court challenge over the medical regulator’s approach towards associate professions, after which the GMC said it was pleased the court had recognised its single set of standards for all three professions as “logical and lawful”.

But the dispute has continued, with Professor Banfield expected to say on Monday that the GMC’s approach to regulating PAs has led to an “incessant and unsafe blurring of professional boundaries that threaten the very foundations of practising medicine, what it means to be a doctor”.

The union will call for a new medical regulator which regulates doctors alone, and has a statutory duty to protect the public.

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Watchdog

The BMA said it surveyed more than 1,400 doctors, of whom 82.2% would support the creation of a new watchdog solely focused on doctors.

Professor Banfield is also set to urge the Government to address doctor unemployment levels in its upcoming 10-year plan for the NHS, and warn Health Secretary Wes Streeting that resident doctors being balloted on strike action want pay deals to be honoured.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokeswoman said: “This Government is committed to working hand-in-hand with doctors and healthcare professionals to deliver the reform our NHS needs.

“We have already announced a programme to modernise the regulation of healthcare professionals across the UK, creating a system that better protects patients and supports our medical workforce through our Plan for Change.”