GMC launches review of undergraduate medical education in the UK

Main Category: Medical Students / Training
Article Date: 14 May 2005 - 4:00 PDT

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The conference 'Medical Education: From Here to Where?' was opened on Monday 9 May, by The Right Hon. Lady Justice Janet Smith DBE, Chair of The Shipman Inquiry.

Professor Peter Rubin, Chair of the GMC Education Committee said:

"This was an excellent conference with high quality presentations from UK and international speakers. We covered 3 issues that are key to medical education: what should be in and what should be out of the curriculum; would the public be better served if the GMC registered medical students; and should there be a national qualifying exam. The quality of debate was high, thanks to all the delegates being fully engaged with the issues. The areas covered and points raised will now form the basis of a national consultation."

In her opening address Dame Janet Smith expressed her personal view supporting a move to put students on the medical register in order to establish early on that doctors have the right values and attitudes to practise a patient centred medicine.

Dame Janet Smith said:

"I do think that both your profession and mine should be pretty tough on students who present with a history of past misconduct, or indeed those who get into trouble while on the course. That may sound harsh but I think it is generally accepted that past behaviour is the best predictor of future behaviour and that the main objective must always be the protection of the public."

The conference was organised around three themes, which will be reflected in a full national consultation later this year:

-- Should we have a national assessment for medical students, rather than medical schools continuing to design their own assessment schemes, subject to the constraints set by the GMC Education Committee?

-- Should the GMC register students as well as doctors, and have greater control over the medical schools' regulations for student fitness to practise in relation to their health and conduct?

-- What should be included in the undergraduate curriculum and covered in the next edition of Tomorrow's Doctors? What do we expect medical graduates to know and to do?

Professor Sir Liam Donaldson, Chief Medical Officer, England said:

"There is no more important task in society than the education of doctors of the future. The welfare of patients, the quality and safety of care depend on excellence in medical education. I commend the GMC in launching this consultation to explore some fundamental questions in medical education."

1. Further information about the conference is available on the GMC website http://www.gmc-uk.org/med_ed/ume.htm

2. The role of the GMC's Education Committee is set by the Medical Act 1983, as amended. 'The Education Committee shall have the general function of promoting high standards of medical education and co-ordinating all stages of medical education.'

3. The Education Committee has specific responsibilities for undergraduate medical education delivered in the 27 UK medical schools and for the first year of practice after graduation (the 'PRHO year'). The GMC sets the outcomes that students and PRHOs must achieve and it quality assures the medical schools and the providers of PRHO training to ensure the outcomes are achieved.

For further information please contact the Media Relations Office

Press Office 020 7189 5454, Out of hours 020 7189 5444, fax: 020 7189 5401; email: press@gmc-uk.org; website: http://www.gmc-uk.org.
The General Medical Council licenses doctors to practise medicine in the UK. Our purpose is summed up in the phrase: Protecting patients, guiding doctors.

The law gives us four main functions:

-- keeping up-to-date registers of qualified doctors

-- fostering good medical practice

-- promoting high standards of medical education

-- dealing firmly and fairly with doctors whose fitness to practise is in doubt

General Medical Council, Press Release, UK