Harold Shipman

The General Medical Council is more concerned with "looking after its own" than the well being of patients according to the latest inquiry into serial killer Harold Shipman.

In light of the Greater Manchester GP's murderous activities, inquiry chief Dame Janet Smith recommends more than 100 changes to the watchdog.

The "flawed" GMC is accused of too easily taking the side of doctors, leading to a failure to protect patients from rogue GPs.

Delivering a summary of her findings Smith said reforms made by the council since the killings had not gone far enough and she said she was not confident that left alone it would "move in the right direction".

"I am by no means convinced that the new GMC procedures will adequately protect patients from dysfunctional or under-performing doctors," Smith said.

"I have concluded there has not yet been the change of culture within the GMC that will ensure that patient protection is given the priority it deserves."

Drug offences

Shipman, who is thought to have murdered at least 215 of his patients, was allowed to continue practising alone without adequate checks despite being convicted of drug offences in 1976.

Fellow doctors failed to raise concerns about his very high death rate which may have stopped his 23-year killing spree.

This is the fifth official report into the circumstances surrounding the killings now being considered by the Department of Health.

Health secretary John Reid said: "The scale of these crimes was unprecedented and his activities were totally abhorrent.

"We need to learn lessons from the mistakes of the past to help safeguard patients in the future.

"We have been working hard with the medical profession and others to strengthen the systems, rules and regulations that govern the medical profession.

"Standards of behaviour must be high and action against those who fail to maintain those standards must be timely, firm and fair."

Reid said he would consider the detail of the report's recommendations before responding fully next year.

GMC response

In a statement, the GMC said it was important to "find out what went wrong, learn the lessons and change the system where necessary".

"We find the breadth and the level of detail of Dame Janet’s report impressive and enormously helpful," it said.

"We recognise that Dame Janet makes serious criticisms of the way we operated our procedures in the past.

"We accepted at the outset of the inquiry that our past fitness to practise procedures were not adequate."

The council said that new procedures had been introduced on November 1 this year, with the public "now involved in every stage of our processes".

"We will further strengthen public involvement over the next 12 months," the statement added.

"We are making every effort to make our own procedures accessible, streamlined and transparent, but we have long called for a 'single portal' that could be the confidential first port of call for people with concerns."