New healthcare regulations: implications for general practice.

Abstract

The regulation of health and social care professionals has entered a new era. On 2 April 2014, the joint Law Commission of England and Wales, the Scottish Law Commission, and the Northern Irish Law Commission published their long awaited final report and draft bill on the future regulation of healthcare professionals, and in England only, the regulation of social workers.1 The report is the culmination of more than 3 years work to review the UK’s legislation for the nine regulatory bodies governed by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA). The General Medical Council (GMC) is one of the nine regulatory bodies within the remit of the project. The GMC currently operates under the Medical Act 1983 with each of the other regulatory bodies also operating using their own specific legal framework. The Draft Regulation of Health and Social Care Professionals etc Bill 2014 will provide a more flexible and consistent framework for all regulators of health and social care professionals. The draft bill will replace the current separate legislation with a single statutory framework for all regulatory bodies. This will give regulators greater operational autonomy and impose greater consistency between the regulators in certain key areas where it is in the public interest to do so, such as fitness to practise adjudication. The draft bill introduces a number of changes that will potentially affect all practising GPs. Every GP in the UK is aware of the need to be …