GMC Meets High Standards in PSA Review

The General Medical Council (GMC) has successfully met all 18 Standards of Good Regulation, as confirmed by an independent review conducted by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA). This positive outcome comes as the GMC prepares to assume statutory regulatory responsibilities for Physician Associates (PAs).

The PSA for Health and Social Care oversees statutory bodies like the GMC who regulate health and social care professionals in the UK. It assesses performance, conducts audits, scrutinises decisions, and reports to Parliament. It also sets standards for organisations holding voluntary registers for health and social care occupations and accredits those that meet them.

The PSA's comprehensive review assessed the GMC's performance across key areas such as guidance, education, registration, and fitness to practice. Notably, the review highlighted the GMC's strong performance in equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI), meeting all four EDI outcome measures.

The report commended the GMC's progress in streamlining fitness-to-practice cases and its commitment to eliminating disproportionate referrals and addressing disparities in medical education. The updated core guidance, Good Medical Practice, which emphasizes patient-centered care and fair workplace cultures, also received praise.

A significant focus of the review centered on the GMC's preparations for regulating PAs and Anesthesia Associates (AAs). This includes ongoing work on:

• Developing proposed rules, standards, and guidance for PA regulation.

• Establishing a new revalidation model specifically tailored to PAs and AAs.

• Publishing joint guidance for PA and AA students.

Charlie Massey, Chief Executive of the GMC, expressed satisfaction with the PSA's findings and emphasised the regulator's commitment to effective and compassionate oversight. He acknowledged the importance of maintaining high standards as the GMC transitions into a multi-professional regulator.

This positive review provides reassurance as the GMC embarks on this crucial step in regulating PAs. It underscores the regulator's dedication to ensuring high-quality patient care and supporting the continued development of the PA profession.

Charlie Massey, Chief Executive of the GMC, said:

‘We are pleased with the PSA’s findings and their recognition of our commitment to be an effective, relevant, and compassionate regulator. Their report identifies several areas of good practice towards this, including our work to improve the timeliness of fitness to practise cases, building on the progress we made last year.

‘It is also great to see many other important areas of work across the GMC positively recognised, such as our strong performance towards all outcome measures set by the PSA for equality, diversity and inclusion and the impact of our updated core standards, Good medical practice. But we must remain vigilant, and as we become a multiprofessional regulator it is more important than ever that we uphold these high standards, supporting our registrants to deliver the best care possible for patients. We will use the findings of this report to deliver further progress to our processes for the benefit of our registrants, the public, and the wider healthcare system.’