Patient views on how we should update Good Medical Practice and explanatory guidance

The GMC is currently reviewing Good medical practice, the core guidance that doctors working in the UK must follow. We are also reviewing ten pieces of explanatory guidance as part of the project. The review will conclude in 2023, when we'll publish our updated guidance. As part of this review we'll run a public consultation in Spring 2022 to gather views and perspectives from patients, medical professionals and other key stakeholders. In the future, subject to legislation, the GMC will be a multi-profession regulator for doctors, physician associates and anaesthesia associates so we will also be exploring how the revised guidance will apply to all registrants.

We are commissioning this research to contribute to this review. It will test key principles or themes in our draft revised version of Good medical practice with groups of patients across the United Kingdom who are unlikely to participate in the written consultation on the guidance. The research will also provide an opportunity to test our thinking on changes we make to guidance once we've heard people's views via the public consultation. We'll also look to test some of our plans to 'implement' the guidance with these groups.