A plain English guide to the draft GMC Order 2026, the biggest reform to UK healthcare regulation in over 40 years, and what it means for doctors, physician associates, anaesthesia associates and every other registered professional.
The way UK healthcare professionals are regulated is changing, and the draft GMC Order 2026 is at the centre of it. A Government consultation on the draft Order is open now and closes on 23 June 2026. This guide explains, in plain terms, what the reform is, what it changes, and what it means for you.
The legislation that governs the General Medical Council is more than 40 years old. It is widely seen as complex, overly prescriptive and slow to adapt to a modern health service. For years the regulators themselves have called for reform, arguing that the rigid framework makes fitness to practise cases take far longer than they should and prevents them from acting fairly and proportionately.
The Government has now committed to a staged programme of reform across all the healthcare professional regulators. The first step happened in December 2024, when the GMC became a multiprofessional regulator and took on responsibility for physician associates (PAs) and anaesthesia associates (AAs). The draft GMC Order 2026 is the next, much larger step.
The GMC Order 2026 is a draft piece of legislation that would reform how the GMC regulates doctors, physician associates and anaesthesia associates across the UK. A Government consultation on the draft Order opened on 24 March 2026 and closes at 11.59pm on Tuesday 23 June 2026.
Crucially, the Order is not only about the GMC. It is designed as a template, a blueprint that the other regulators will follow, with their own bespoke adjustments. In other words, the changes set out for doctors are a preview of what is coming for nurses, midwives, dentists, pharmacists and allied health professionals.
The reform of PA and AA regulation took effect in December 2024. The consultation on the draft GMC Order 2026 runs to 23 June 2026. From December 2026 it will become an offence to practise as a PA or AA in the UK without being registered.
The detail will be settled through the consultation and the rules that follow, but the direction of travel is clear. The reform is built around a few central ideas.
If you want to understand how the current process works while these reforms are debated, our guide to what fitness to practise means sets out the fundamentals, and GMC fitness to practise and appeals explains the route a case takes today.
PAs and AAs entered GMC regulation in December 2024, and the new consultation goes further. It seeks views on recommendations from the Leng Review, including a proposal to change the professional titles of these roles to assistant titles so that patients are clearer about who is treating them. It also considers recommendations from the Mann Review into tackling racism in the NHS.
For PAs and AAs, the practical message is the same as for any regulated professional. The standards expected of you, and the consequences of falling short of them, are being formalised. Understanding your professional standards now is the best protection against problems later.
Because the GMC Order 2026 is intended as a model for the whole system, the Nursing and Midwifery Council, the Health and Care Professions Council and the other regulators are expected to undergo comparable reforms in the coming years. Each will adapt the framework to its own professions.
This is why the reform matters to every registrant, not only to doctors. If you are a nurse or midwife, our guide to the NMC fitness to practise stages and the NMC Code explained show the standards you are held to today. If you are an HCPC registered professional, the HCPC fitness to practise stages guide does the same.
The reform is broadly welcomed, but not everyone agrees it goes far enough. Regulators have welcomed the modernisation, describing the existing legislation as outdated and a barrier to acting effectively. Some professional bodies, on the other hand, have argued that the proposals do not fix everything they see as wrong with the current system and have encouraged their members to respond to the consultation and push for stronger change.
Both positions share the same starting point: the present framework is too old and too slow, and the question is only how far the new one should go. Whatever your view, the consultation is the moment to have it heard.
Reform of this scale takes time, and most of the changes will arrive through rules and guidance over the next few years. But there are sensible steps every registered professional can take today.
Keeping your CPD current is one of the simplest ways to stay ahead of these changes. If you would like to, you can explore and buy our CPD certified Ethics for Healthcare Professionals course here.
It is a draft piece of legislation that would replace the 40 year old framework governing the General Medical Council and modernise how it regulates doctors, physician associates and anaesthesia associates. It is also designed as a template for reforming the other UK healthcare regulators.
The UK Government consultation on the draft GMC Order 2026 runs from 24 March 2026 and closes at 11.59pm on Tuesday 23 June 2026.
Directly it affects doctors, physician associates and anaesthesia associates regulated by the GMC. Because the Order is a blueprint for the wider system, nurses, midwives, dentists, pharmacists, allied health professionals and others will see similar reforms follow at their own regulators.
Yes. The reform is intended to create a less adversarial fitness to practise process, to allow more cases to be resolved through accepted outcomes rather than full hearings, and to treat a registrant's health as a separate ground for action rather than as misconduct.
PAs and AAs have been regulated by the GMC since December 2024. The consultation also seeks views on the Leng Review recommendation to change their professional titles to assistant titles to make their role clearer to patients.
Yes. The GMC Order 2026 is intended as a blueprint for the other regulators, including the Nursing and Midwifery Council and the Health and Care Professions Council, with bespoke changes made to reflect each regulator.
The current legislation is more than 40 years old, complex, overly prescriptive and slow to adapt. Reform is intended to give regulators more autonomy to set their own rules and to act more quickly and fairly.
No. The aim is a fairer and faster process, not a harsher one. More cases are expected to be resolved early through agreed outcomes, with full hearings reserved for the most serious concerns.
Stay familiar with your current professional standards, keep your CPD and reflective records up to date, and understand how your regulator's fitness to practise process works so you are never caught unprepared if a concern is raised.
The consultation is run by the Department of Health and Social Care. Responses can be submitted through the official DHSC consultation page before the 23 June 2026 deadline.
This guide is for general information and educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. For advice on your own situation, speak to a specialist regulatory solicitor or your professional defence organisation.
