GMC changes cause a drop in medical student fitness to practise declarations

Topics covered: Fitness to Practice, General Medical Council, general practitioners

The implementation of updated General Medical Council (“GMC”) guidance, inclusive of an online ‘declaration tool’ for final year medical students applying to provisionally join the medical register has led to a reduction in the number of low-level fitness to practise declarations requiring no further action by the regulator. This is in accordance with new data published by the GMC called ‘Fitness to practise concerns declared by UK medical graduates in 2022 – Summary report’. Since the new measures were introduced by the GMC in August 2020, the total number of declarations needing no further action have dropped by over a half demonstrating the successful implementation.

What did the GMC change?

To join the UK register, final year medical students studying in the United Kingdom must apply for provisional registration and answer a set of questions to ‘declare’ any issues that may impact their fitness to practise as a doctor. Typically, this would include declarations surrounding their health however, other categories can include professional conduct at medical school, criminal convictions and dishonesty.

The updates were introduced following year-on-year increases in students incorrectly telling the GMC about issues which do not impact their ability to practise safely as a doctor. Examples of incorrect declarations included well-managed physical and mental health conditions and disabilities such as dyslexia where students have reasonable adjustments in place to support them. The GMC sought to reduce the number of incorrect declarations received by updating their guidance, introducing new questions and lastly, introducing a ‘declaration tool’ to aid and provide students with further clarity on the declaration process.

Since the new measures were adopted by the GMC, declarations were down 63% compared with the four-year average pre-update. However, the figures relating to relevant declarations that needed further investigation have stayed consistent with previous years, demonstrating the success of the changes.

What has been said?

Raymond Effah, Co-Chair of the British Medical Association (“BMA”) Medical Students Committee said:

“The BMA and GMC are both clear that having a disability or health condition does not prevent students from successfully studying and practising medicine. We know that many medical students feel anxious and uncertain about what information to share with the GMC about their disability or health condition – and worry that failing to provide information will have negative repercussions on assessing their fitness to practise. We welcome the GMC’s efforts to ensure that students do not feel pressurised into sharing sensitive personal information it does not need to see, and are pleased they have listened to students and taken action.”

If you are a final year medical student requiring legal assistance in connection with a declaration or a GMC registration matter, please call Ridouts for assistance on 0207 317 0340 or info@ridout-law.com

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