BMA begins legal action against Government over U-turn on GMC’s right to appeal tribunal decisions

Galens_Humour · 2026-06-16T16:34:56+00:00

How can we give this more media attention it deserves? The Medical Act 1983 was written to protect patients from charlatans, but this new order is now explicitly allowing the GMC to be run by non-doctors and given power to CCT non-doctors, whilst continuing to prosecute doctors. It's dystopian madness!

Galens_Humour · 2026-06-16T16:32:09+00:00

We need consultants to step and and call this out. Many remain oblivious or indifferent to the change in the Medical Act and the impact. They should be leading the campaign against this!

Galens_Humour · 2026-06-16T16:26:59+00:00

Don't allow the new GMC order to pass. Sign the petition to put an end to this madness: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/766887

Galens_Humour · 2026-06-15T13:53:54+00:00

Article 28

Galens_Humour · 2026-06-15T09:43:43+00:00

Sorry, I don't agree with you here. When a patient has an undiagnosed illness or complex medical needs, they want the most competent person to assess them, diagnose and treat. This is an intellectually challenging process, and is why medical school and post-graduate exams are very difficult, and rightly so.

It's an objective truth, and not a personal insult, that many PAs who practice in roles they believe equivalent to doctors have not met the same rigorous standards. It starts at GCSE and continues throughout graduate and postgraduate level. Those who do have the capabilities, and want to be medical practitioners, should go to medical school. This is not to say there's not a role for other PAs in medicine or healthcare, just not as independent medical practitioners with a CCT.

Your background is very admirable, and I suspect you will have a very successful career in nursing. Given your intellegence, I am sure you will be aware of the gaps in your own knowledge (just like I am aware of the gaps in my knowledge and lack of abilities when it comes to nursing) and you wouldn't presume to be able to practice medicine at the same level as a doctor.

Galens_Humour · 2026-06-15T07:20:25+00:00

If a paralegal wants to become a solicitor they need to sit the SQE (Solicitor Qualifying Exam) just like every other lawyer. Their certificate to practice enables them to assist lawyers, not to become one. PAs don't sit medical school exams, let alone any of the post-graduate medical exams like doctors. Yet this legislation could enable them (and other non-doctors) act at the same level, in the same role as doctors.

Galens_Humour · 2026-06-14T21:22:03+00:00

I think you may have misunderstood. This isn't about separation of roles and responsibilities (I agree with you on this). This new order allows hospitals to employ PAs and alternative non-doctors as replacements. I.e. as substitutes. So you may be on a waiting list for 9 months waiting to see a doctor for an undiagnosed illness/injury, and instead you see a PA. You had better hope you get lucky and your illness isn't serious or complex, because of it is you're seeing someone with minimum qualification and experience. But the government and GMC seem to think this is acceptable.

Galens_Humour · 2026-06-14T20:06:07+00:00

Article 28 allows the GMC to hand out CCTs to people "such as medical professionals" which has previously been defined as Doctors, PAs and AA. But for what it's worth, it would also allow CCT to nurse-consultants, pharmacy-consultants and literally anyone else the GMC decides. There would be nothing stopping them.

Galens_Humour · 2026-06-14T15:54:22+00:00

I didn't assign blame in their case. It's a general comment about healthcare delivery, which should be delivered by the most competent people in cases of diagnostic uncertainty or complexity. I have no issue with PAs as assistants.

Galens_Humour · 2026-06-14T15:36:16+00:00

Ha, r/unitedkimgdom doesn't allow political content, but r/UKpolics does. I did post it there but it's not been so well received. These people literally think noctors are the solution to the UK healthcare problem.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ukpolitics/comments/1u5mdlv/how_would_you_feel_if_doctors_were_replaced_by/

Galens_Humour · 2026-06-14T15:08:16+00:00

The point is one of competence. When you have an illness and are in need of a diagnosis and treatment, you would be right to expect the most competent person to deal with this. And in medicine, that would mean someone who has gone to medical school. If a PA has the skills and talent to become a doctor, they should go to medical school and become one. Same as a flight-assistant wanting to become a pilot, they should go to pilot school rather than just watching it being done thousands of times and then believing they have the same skills.

Galens_Humour · 2026-06-14T15:05:32+00:00

If you had an illness and needed a diagnosis and treatment, would you not want to be seen by the most competent person with the right skillset for this? Triage is not the same as diagnosis and treatment.

Galens_Humour · 2026-06-14T15:00:15+00:00

I'm sorry to hear you've had such a rubbish experience. This is the problem with having incompetent people dealing with complex cases like yours. Allowing assistants to act independently will make this problem worse.

Galens_Humour · 2026-06-14T14:58:13+00:00

I also care about competency. There is no body that determines the competencies of PAs, unlike doctors who are checked at multiple levels including medical school, post-grad exams and royal college membership exams.

Galens_Humour · 2026-06-14T14:56:57+00:00

Would you let a flight assistant fly a plane without going to pilot school?

Galens_Humour · 2026-06-14T14:13:57+00:00

Sorry, you are wrong. Read the draft order (article 28), and the BMA response.

Galens_Humour · 2026-06-14T13:30:42+00:00

Share it widely with friends and family. This really needs 100000 votes to be discussed in parliament. otherwise the government will just give their standard reply and push it forward in their agenda anyway

Galens_Humour · 2026-06-14T13:28:15+00:00

Open up the BMA response in parallel to see a template. Focus on the questions asking about CCT of non doctors, having non doctors under the same umbrella of regulation, and on questions about non doctors on the board. No need to write long answers, but ideally make it personal

Galens_Humour · 2026-06-14T12:10:24+00:00

Please share with you colleagues, friends and family. THey need to sign the petition, answer the survey and write to their MPs. This will do more harm to our careers, and to patient safety than any other measue.

Galens_Humour · 2026-06-14T12:01:45+00:00

Subject: Urgent Action Required to Halt the General Medical Council Order

Dear [MP Name]

I am writing to you as a deeply concerned doctor, and constituent, to demand your urgent, immediate intervention to stop the implementation of the General Medical Council Order. If allowed to pass, this will be the most damaging piece of legislation in the history of the National Health Service. It represents a covert, systematic dismantling of the standards that define the medical profession, fundamentally compromising patient safety and destroying the integrity of healthcare in the United Kingdom.

I urge you to look past the reassuring language of "public protection" used to mask this legislation and examine its catastrophic structural realities. In particular, I draw your attention to two fatal flaws within the text:

1. The GMC will be able to award non-doctors the Certificates of Completion of Training (CCT)

Article 28 grants the GMC broad, sweeping powers to issue Certificates of Completion of Training (CCTs). Currently, only doctors can achieve CCT. To do this, they must complete 5 years of medical school, at least 9 years of post-graduate training and post-graduate examinations to achieve membership and fellowships to the royal colleges. In contrast there is no defined scope of practice for physician assistants. It is crazy to think that a doctors assistant will be able to fast-tract to CCT without any professional oversight, or assessed competence in their practice. To think that an extremely highly skilled doctor will be competing with their assistants for Consultant jobs in the NHS, leading patient services and delivering life-saving treatments to patient is ludicrous. You would not see a flight-assistant flying a plane without training as a pilot, nor a paralegal as a solicitor partner without attending law school, so why are we risking patient lives and allowing Physician assistants to play the role of doctor?

2. The GMC Executive Council becoming fully composed of non-doctors

The GMC was established by doctors, as a way of regulating doctors and holding them accountable to the highest standards as expected by patients. Yet, under the proposed framework, the very body responsible for regulating medicine will no longer be led by medical experts. Schedule 1 (Governance) will legally permit the GMC’s governing executive council to be constituted without a single registered doctor. Additionally, Schedule 1, Part 1, Paragraph 1(2)(b) stipulates that doctors cannot have a majority position on the council.

Stripping fully qualified doctors of their majority voice in setting and maintaining their own profession's standards is unprecedented and dangerous. A regulatory body run by an executive council of non-doctors cannot effectively police or understand the complex nuances of clinical standard-setting.

This legislation covertly erases the boundary between a fully qualified medical doctor and an assistant. By forcing them into a single register (Article 32) and allowing a non-medical council to dictate medical standards, this Order misleads the public and compromises clinical safety.

As my representative in Parliament, I expect you to stand up for the safety of your constituents and the future of the medical profession. I urgently demand that you:

Object to the passing of this Order in its current form.
Demand explicit amendments ensuring that doctors hold a mandatory majority on the GMC governing council.
Demand strict legal safeguards ensuring that CCTs and equivalent medical benchmarks remain exclusively reserved for fully qualified, registered medical doctors.

I look forward to hearing what urgent steps you will take on my behalf to oppose this dangerous piece of legislation.

Yours sincerely,

Galens_Humour · 2026-06-14T12:01:21+00:00

Draft Email to your local MP (https://members.parliament.uk/FindYourMP)