public confidence. Why this is so and what alternatives might serve the public
interest better are points that need to be explored. In order to do that it is necessary
to examine the origins of professional regulation in the United Kingdom, and that
means first looking at the medical profession.
3.3 Regulating British medicine
Margaret Stacey, inRegulating British Medicine[2], sets out the historical back-
ground in great and fascinating detail. In a particularly telling paragraph, she
concludes that:
`Looking back on the establishment of the [General Medical] Council in 1858 it
seems clear that the impetus came from medicine ± it was a desire to create
circumstances in which their income and status could be improved that led
medical men to press for reform of medical regulation. Whatever their differ-
ences, all were agreed on the importance of regulation for the help it would be to
them in controlling who could practise, thereby reducing competition. Contrary
to the beliefs of many, the interests of the public were a secondary, not a primary
consideration.'Stacey also quotes the minutes of the General Medical Council .GMC) of 1973 [3]
as stating that the 1858 Act:
`was passed largely as a result of an initiative within the profession, and the
establishment of the Council was desired as much for the protection of the duly
qualified medical practitioner from the competition of unqualified practitioners
as for the protection of the public.'That minute formed part of the GMC's evidence to the Merrison Committee,
established to conduct a review of its functions and operations at a time when the
Council was under significant attack from within the ranks of medicine. That
minute emphasises Stacey's protection and privilege' conclusion. It is interesting, in the context of debate now taking place about the regulation of the health professions generally, that, prior to the 1858 Act being passed, one proposal had been that a body of laymen should regulate medicine, rather than the Council entirely composed of members of the profession that emerged. Needless to say it did not find favour. The regulatory body that emerged would, in the course of time, be used as the basic model for the establishment of professional regulatory bodies for other health professions. With adjustments made over the years through amending legislation, not least related to increases in its membership and enhancement of its powers ± and from 1950 even the inclusion of the firstlay' member ± the GMC
model remains. Not only medicine but other regulatory bodies, with the consent of
Parliament through the legislation that it approves, perpetuate systems whereby a
substantial majority of their members are drawn from within the professional
group regulated.
It is worthy of note that the Merrison Report of 1975 .The Report of the
Committee of Inquiry into the Regulation of the Medical Profession [4]) appeared
The Professional Dimension 35