time to put your words into practice and end the witch hunt against doctors
Open letter to GMC: 28th June 2024
Professor Dame Carrie MacEwen, Chair, General Medical Council
Mr Charlie Massey, CEO, General Medical Council
Professor Philip Banfield, chairman of council, British Medical Association
Dr Jeanette Dickson, Chair of Council, Academy of Medical Royal Colleges
Dear Professor MacEwen,
As you will be aware, we wrote to you in 2021 to express our concerns about doctors being pressured to advocate for Covid-19 vaccines, in situations where proper personalised informed consent was almost impossible. We published our letter and your very helpful reply which confirmed our understanding of GMC guidance on Decision making and consent, especially the first two of seven principles:
- One – All patients have the right to be involved in decisions about their treatment and care and be supported to make informed decisions if they are able.
- Two – Decision making is an ongoing process focused on meaningful dialogue: the exchange of relevant information specific to the individual patient.
In addition to trying to give full information to our patients, we have also been placing our safety concerns in the public domain as part of Good Medical Practice requirements to speak out if seeing harm to patients.
As well as our open letter, we have also written to you in support of several doctors reported to the GMC regarding their use of social media to highlight covid vaccine harms, with fitness to practise investigations based on ‘bringing the profession into disrepute’. This includes some who have been struck off, others who have had investigations spread over years and yet others who have lost their jobs. We are also aware of doctors who have been referred to occupational health services because their refusal to endorse government guidelines was construed as a sign of mental illness. A group of over 50 senior doctors and academics were referred in June 2021 by the Department of Health and Social Care to the Counter Disinformation Unit (CDU) following a fully referenced letter questioning covid vaccines for children. Far from bringing the profession into disrepute, many of these doctors have received overwhelming gratitude from the vaccine injured.
In the wake of the contaminated blood scandal, we were very pleased to see your statement commenting robustly on the importance of protecting whistleblowers. As you said, “There is extensive commentary within the report about the importance of speaking up about both mistakes and near misses and a cautionary note about the need to protect those who do so from detriment to their career.” You are also quoted saying, “We are of course aware that referrals to us are sometimes used to intimidate. This is completely unacceptable, has significant consequences for doctors’ wellbeing and puts the safety of patients at risk.” You said, “We’ve put a number of safeguards in place” and you committed to assessing “whether further interventions are needed to prevent retaliatory or weaponised referrals.”
You have “also seen investigative media reports alleging that a number of NHS managers have taken actions to silence whistleblowers, including threatening referral to the GMC.” One such report came from the Telegraph (15th May 2024), under the title “The four-step ‘playbook’ the NHS uses to break whistleblowers”.
It is notable that a recent BMA survey showed that the proportion of doctors being discouraged from or even afraid of speaking out has risen significantly between 2018 and 2024, to the point where 61% of those polled in 2024 said they may not raise concerns because they were “afraid” they or colleagues could be “unfairly blamed or suffer adverse consequences”.
Medical censorship, whether externally enforced by social media platforms, by GMC investigations or by NHS managers, or whether self-inflicted as suggested by the BMA poll, lead to the same end result – a failure to properly investigate harms or advocate for patient choice or even patient safety.
We urge you to implement the following actions:
- That the GMC apply the same protection to whistleblowers reporting Covid-19 vaccine harms that you have rightly observed were missing decades ago in the contaminated blood scandal.
- To call a moratorium on all GMC investigations which do not arise directly from complaints about actual patient care.
Yours sincerely
Dr Rosamond Jones, retired Consultant Paediatrician, convenor Children’s Covid Vaccines Advisory Council
Dr Ayiesha Malik, General Practitioner, co-founder, Doctors for Patients UK
Dr Clare Craig, diagnostic pathologist, co-chair, Health Advisory and Recovery Team
Dr Elizabeth Evans, retired doctor, CEO, UK Medical Freedom Alliance
Professor Angus Dalgleish, MD, FRCP, FRACP, FRCPath, FMedSci, Emeritus Professor of Oncology, University of London; Principal, Institute for Cancer Vaccines & Immunotherapy
Professor Anthony J Brookes, Professor of Genomics and Health Data Science, University of Leicester
Professor David Livermore, BSc, PhD, Emeritus Professor of Medical Microbiology, University of East Anglia
Professor John A Fairclough, BM BS, BMedSci, FRCS, FFSEM(UK), Professor Emeritus, Honorary Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon
Professor Martin Neil, BSc PhD, Professor of Computer Science and Statistics
Professor Roger Watson, FRCP Edin, FRCN, FAAN, Honorary Professor of Nursing, University of Hull
Lord Moonie, MBChB, MRCPsych, MFCM, MSc, retired member of House of Lords, former Parliamentary Under- Secretary of State 2001-2003, former Consultant in Public Health Medicine
Dr Alan Mordue, MBChB, FFPH, retired Consultant in Public Health Medicine & Epidemiology
Dr Ali Ajaz, Consultant Psychiatrist
Dr Alison Sabine, MBChB, MRCP, Consultant Rheumatologist
Dr Ancha Bala Joof, MBChB, MRCGP, General Practitioner
Dr Angela Musso, MD, MRCGP, DRCOG, FRACGP, MFPC, General Practitioner
Dr Branko Latinkic, BSc, PhD, Reader in Biosciences
Dr Carmen Wheatley, DPhil, Orthomolecular Oncology
Dr Caroline Lapworth, MBChB, General Practitioner
Dr Cathy Greig, MBChB (hons), General Practitioner
Dr Charles Forsyth, MBBS, FFHom, retired Integrative and Ecological Medicine Doctor
Dr Chris Newton, PhD, Biochemist working in immuno-metabolism
Dr Christopher Exley, PhD, FRSB, Bioinoganic Chemist
Dr Christina Peers, MBBS, DRCOG, DFSRH, FFSRH, Menopause Specialist
Dr Cordelia Phelan, Consultant Pathologist
Dr David Bell, MBBS, PhD, FRCP(UK), Public Health Physician
Dr David Cartland, MBChB, BMedSci, General Practitioner
Dr David Critchley, BSc, PhD, Clinical Pharmacologist, Children’s Covid Vaccines Advisory Council
Dr Dean Patterson, MBChB, FRCP, Consultant Cardiologist and General Physician
Dr Elizabeth Burton, MBChB, retired General Practitioner
Dr Emma Brierly, MBBS, MRCGP, General Practitioner
Dr Fatou Mbow, MD(Italy), MRCGP, DFFP, General Practitioner
Dr Felicity Lillingston, IMD DHS PhD ANP, Doctor, Urgent Care, Research Fellow
Dr Fiona Martindale, MBChB, MRCGP, General Practitioner
Dr Geoffrey Maidment, MD, FRCP, retired Consultant Physician
Dr Gillian Breese, BSc, MB ChB, DFFP, DTM&H, General Practitioner
Dr Greta Mushet, MBChB, MRCPsych, retired Consultant Psychiatrist in Psychotherapy
Dr Helen Westwood, MBChB, MRCGP, DCH, DRCOG, General Practitioner
Dr Ian Bridges, MBBS, retired General Practitioner
Dr Jenny Goodman, MA, MBChB, Ecological Medicine
Dr Jessica Robinson, BSc(Hons), MBBS, MRCPsych, MFHom, Integrative Medicine Doctor
Dr Jon Rogers, MBChB(Bristol), MRCGP, DRCOG, Retired NHS General Practitioner
Dr Jonathan Eastwood, BSc, MBChB, MRCGP, General Practitioner
Dr Jonathan Engler, MBChB, LlB (Hons), DipPharmMed
Dr Keith Johnson, BA, DPhil (Oxon), IP Consultant for Diagnostic Testing
Dr Livia Tossici-Bolt, PhD, retired Clinical Scientist
Dr Magdalena Stasiak-Horkan, MBBS, DCH, MRCGP (2003-2017), General Practitioner
Dr Marco Chiesa, MD, FRCPsych, Consultant Psychiatrist, Visiting Professor
Dr Mark A Bell, MBChB, MRCP(UK), FRCEM, Consultant in Emergency Medicine
Dr Matthew Dennison, MBBS, MRCGP, Dip IBLM, General Practitioner
Dr Michael Bazlinton, MBChB, MRCGP, DCH, General Practitioner
Dr Michael D Bell, MBChB, MRCGP, retired General Practitioner
Dr Noel Thomas, MA, MBChB, DObsRCOG, DTM&H, MFHom, Retired Doctor
Dr Peter Chan, BM, MRCS, MRCGP, NLP, General Practitioner, Functional medicine practitioner
Dr Rachel Nicoll, PhD, Medical researcher
Dr Renee Hoenderkamp, MBBS, General Practitioner
Dr Richard House, PhD, CPsychol, AFBPsS, CertCouns, Chartered Psychologist, former senior lecturer in Psychology (Roehampton) and Early Childhood (Winchester), retired psychotherapist
Dr Richard J O’Shea, MBBCh, BA(Hons), MRCGP, General Practitioner
Dr Rohaan Seth, BSc(hons), MBChB (hons), MRCGP, Retired General Practitioner
Dr Roland Salmon, MBBS, MRCGP, FFPH, Former Director, Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre Wales
Dr Salmaan Saleem, MBBS, BMedSci, RCGP(2019), co-founder Doctors for Patients UK
Dr Samuel White, MBChB, MRCGP, Functional Medicine Specialist, former General Practitioner
Dr Sarah Myhill, MBBS, Dip NM, retired GP, Independent Naturopathic Physician, UKMFA Director of Medical Ethics
Dr Scott McLachlan, Lecturer in Digital Technologies for Healthcare, School of Nursing, Midwifery and Palliative Care, King’s College London
Dr Scott Mitchell, MBChB, MRCS, Associate Specialist, Emergency Medicine
Dr Stefanie Williams, MD, Dermatologist
Dr Tanya Klymenko, PhD, FHEA, FIBMS, Senior lecturer in Biomedical Sciences
Dr Timothy Kelly, MBBCh, BSc, NHS doctor and Systems Analyst
Gayle Gerry, BSc(Hons), RGN, NHS Registered Nurse
James Cook, Bachelor of Nursing (Hons), Master of Public Health (MPH), NHS Registered Nurse
Julie Annakin, RN, Immunisation Specialist Nurse
Kaira McCallum, BSc, retired pharmacist, Director of strategy UKMFA
Katherine MacGilchrist, BSc(Hons), MSc, CEO/Systematic Review Director, Epidemica Ltd
Marco Tullio Suadoni, RN, BSc (Hons) Adult Nursing, MSc, Specialist Palliative Care Lead
Mr Angus Robertson BSc (Med. Sci.) MB ChB FRCS(Ed) FFSEM(UK) Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon
Mr Anthony Hinton, MBChB, FRCS, Consultant ENT Surgeon, London
Mr David Halpin, MB BS, FRCS , Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, retired
Mr Ian F Comaish, MA, BM BCh, FRCOphth, FRANZCO, Consultant Ophthalmologist
Mr Ian McDermott MB BS, MS, FRCS (Tr & Orth), FFSEM (UK), Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon | London Sports Orthopaedics, Honorary Professor Associate | Brunel University
Mr John Bunni, MBChB (Hons), Dip Lap Surg, FRCS [ASGBI Medal], Consultant Colorectal and General Surgeon
Mr T James Royle, MBChB, FRCS, MMedEd, Consultant Colorectal and General Surgeon
Natalie Stephenson, Audiologist
Sophie Gidet, RM,DTN, Midwife
Sorrel Scott, Physiotherapist
Rev Dr William J U Philip, MBChB, MRCP, BD, Senior Minister The Tron Church, Glasgow, formerly physician specialising in cardiology
Sue Parker Hall, CTA, MSc (Counselling & Supervision), MBACP, EMDR. Psychotherapist
