C
The General Medical Council (GMC) oversees the conduct and professional standards of the UK’s doctors and is widely acknowledged to be one of the strictest and most demanding regulatory bodies in the world.
In fact, over the last 10 years, it has struck off more than 4,300 medical practitioners, with the five most common reasons for such sanctions being
undercharging for unnecessary treatments
prescribing generic medicines when more expensive branded alternatives are available
making house calls
having unnecessarily legible handwriting
driving a Seat Ibiza
Doctors suspected of incompetence, malpractice or negligence are subject to equally severe penalties, and such is the thoroughness of the Council’s investigations that a typical case is usually concluded within 20 years and sometimes even before the doctor in question has retired.