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46 Medico-Legal J. 3 (1978)

handle is hein.journals/medlgjr46 and id is 1 raw text is: THE MEDICO-LEGAL JOURNAL Founded 1901 Vol. 46 1978 Part One EDITORIAL Medical Bill 1978 THE General Medical Council was established by Act of Parliament in 1858 with the statutory functions of keeping a register of duly qualified persons, supervising medical education, public health and midwifery, and compiling and publishing the British Pharmacopoiea. As a corollary to its duty of registering doctors it is also responsible for the maintenance of standards of conduct within the profession, a function carried out by the Disciplinary Committee. As at present constituted the Council consists of forty-seven persons, eighteen appointed by the Universities, ten by the medical corporations, eight nominated by the Queen on the advice of her Privy Council, and only eleven by election from the ranks of the profession. For many years increasing dissatisfaction has been expressed about the way the GMC has performed its functions and in particular its introduction of an annual retention fee and the lack of adequate representation of practising doctors, particularly those in junior grades. In 1972 a Committee of Inquiry into the Regulation of the Medical Profession was set up under the Chairmanship of Dr. (now Sir Alec) Merrison, Vice-Chancellor of Bristol University and this reported in 1975. In essence the Merrison Report proposed changes under four main head- ings; first, reconstitution of the GMC on more democratic lines with a majority of elected members including younger doctors; secondly, new machinery for dealing with doctors accused of professional misconduct or whose capacity to practice is alleged to be impaired by physical or mental ill-health; thirdly, an alteration in the registration procedures, especially those applied to overseas practitioners to ensure their standards are equiva- lent to those of doctors trained in medical schools in the United Kingdom; and lastly, proposals for postgraduate education and specialist registration to bring the profession into line with our fellow members in countries of the EEC. These recommendations in the Merrison Report were widely