A database has been created to track doctor’s entire careers in order to find the best way of selecting and testing doctors.
The General Medical Council (GMC) database will track any fitness to practice decisions leveled against doctors and no opt out option will be available.
Establishing the database is one of the main recommendations in a report by the Medical Schools Council called Selecting for Excellence, due for publication next week.
The report also points out ways to improve university selection and ensure more students from lower-class background are encouraged to enter in to the medical profession.
Professor Tony Weetman, chair of the Selecting for Excellence group said: “This is the best we can come up with and the targets are meant to be a combination of what is achievable and reasonable
“This is about selecting the right kind of people to be doctors and also making it crystal clear what we are looking for which gets round one of the many areas that disadvantage certain groups of society.”
A spokesman for the GMC said: “We collect a wealth of information about the medical profession and the organisations where doctors practise and train.
“Partners across the UK are already using our data to supplement their own intelligence about providers of care and to evaluate and improve medical education and training.
“Part of this important work includes the UKMED project and we are working closely with the MSC and other key stakeholders to develop this.”
