Engaging your key interests and telling your story IAMRA conference, October 2010

1. Engaging your key interests and telling your story IAMRA conference, October 2010

2. The General Medical Council ‘to protect, promote and maintain the health and safety of the public by ensuring proper standards in the practice of medicine’

3. Registration Education Fitness to Practise Standards The GMC m

4. The General Medical Council • 239,000 doctors on the GMC register • Funded by doctors who pay an annual fee of £420 • Annual budget c£90 million • Around 630 staff • Handle c6000 complaints pa • Council has 24 members – 12 medical 12 lay • GMC is accountable to UK Parliament not government

5. 21st century regulation • Protecting the public • Based on standards • Legitimacy based on involvement and • accountability • Ongoing not one off relationships • Proactive not reactive • Managing relationships is key • Good 2 way communication essential

6. Ambition • We are committed to: • Putting patient safety first every time • A new relationship with key interests • Fostering higher standards • Increasing transparency • Risk based regulation • Encouraging learning from our activity

7. Ambition • We are committed to: • Putting patient safety first every time • A new relationship with key interests • Fostering higher standards • Increasing transparency • Risk based regulation • Encouraging learning from our activity

8. Key Interests • Patients and the public • Doctors and medical students • Employers • Educators • Other regulators • Government and Parliament

9. Key Interests • Patients and the public • Doctors and medical students • Employers • Educators • Other regulators • Government and Parliament

10. Supporting doctors • “Providing doctors with first-class guidance • at all stages of their medical careers, • thereby enhancing their professionalism • for the benefit of patients.” • “Publishing guidance in formats that help doctors to understand how the principles apply to their day-to-day practice.” • GMC Corporate Strategy 2010-2013

11. Core Guidance

12. Bringing guidance to life • GMP on the website but can look dry • We wanted an interactive online facility which brought GMP to life • Good Medical Practice in Action

13. GMP in Action • Enable doctors to think about the guidance in a ‘real’ context. • Encourage doctors to read the guidance. • Raise awareness of the guidance and its practical applications among doctors, medical students and the public.

15. GMP in Action • Easy to access and use • Genuinely challenging – not obvious answers • The scenarios to mirror real life • Not always a right or wrong answer, but often a preferred one • Into the waiting room

16. After completing a scenario… • A commentary on the issues from an experienced doctor • Links into the relevant sections of our guidance

18. Using GMP in Action • Doctors use it in lunch hours and evenings • Used for training medical students and younger doctors • Medical students test their understanding • Patients learn about the GMC’s role in setting professional standards for doctors

19. Feedback • 17,000 individuals used GMP in Action (2009) • Feedback overwhelmingly positive: • “Highly interactive, enlightening teaching session.” • “This has been a really useful resource for my GP trainees – thank you, GMC!” • “This is brilliant, more please.”

20. Feedback • “Highly commended” in the Best Use of Technology category, Charity Times awards, September 2010. • Shortlisted for 'Best Internet Product 2009' in the UK IT industry awards sponsored by British Computing Society and the Chartered Institute for IT.

21. Purpose of the Reference Community • To access the views and perspectives of a diverse group of doctors and members of the public • A ‘sounding board’ on emerging policy • External input on policy issues, mainly ‘pre-consultation’. • A pool of potential members for working groups

22. GMC Reference Community • 26 members of the public and 26 doctors. • Appointed through an open process, July 2009. • Mainly operates virtually • Sometimes some members brought together

23. Issues considered over the past 12 months • Review of the tone of the letters we send to doctors whose fitness to practise is under investigation. • A draft of a new leaflet for patients and the public titled ‘Understanding a doctor’s registration’. • Proposals for enhancing patient/public involvement in the quality assurance of basic medical education. • Disclosure of expired warnings, interim orders, and use of voluntary erasure. • Proposal to require non-EEA graduates to demonstrate a higher knowledge of English before sitting the PLAB.

24. Added value of the Reference Community • It complements other ways of working • It taps into the views of individuals rather than organisations. • It works flexibly – no fixed meetings

25. Thank you www.gmc-uk.org