All doctors in the UK will face annual assessments which could see licences removed from poor performers. The proposals mean GPs, hospital consultants and private practitioners would have to renew their licences every five years, under proposals from the chief medical officer, Liam Donaldson. Patients organisations have welcomed the news, saying they have been waiting for such an initiative since the Shipman inquiry. Dr Hamish Meldrum, chairman of the BMA, explains how the scheme would work.
