The GMC had been alerted to serious concerns about paediatrician Roy Meadows three years before his professional experience was found to be unsafe, it has transpired.
Roy Meadows gave evidence in a number of trials of women whose babies died from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. A number of women were convicted of having killed their babies on the basis of his testimony. His theory of one death being a tragedy, two suspicious, and three murder is now discredited.
The conviction of Angela Cannings for murdering her two young baby boys, which was secured largely on the basis of Meadows' evidence, was overturned late in 2003, sparking a review by the attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, of over 200 similar cases.
Last week another woman; Donna Anthony, whose conviction also relied on evidence from Roy Meadows won the right to appeal against her conviction, having already served seven years of her life sentence.
Today, a spokesperson from Alexander Harris said:
"It is clear that public confidence needs to be restored and the GMC need to show to the public that they are there to protect patients and not doctors.
The GMC has been a reactive rather than a proactive organisation and needs to be replaced with a system fit to protect patients in the 21st Century.
It has taken a series of tragic cases for the GMC to begin to look at the way it polices the medical profession. A radical re-think of the system is required on how best to regulate the medical profession in the future.
It is important that both members of the public and health professionals know where to go to raise concerns and complaints about doctors.
The regulatory remit of the GMC is too wide. There is a conflict between the many roles that this one body plays, setting standards for the profession as well as acting as police, prosecution and judge. We would therefore welcome an independent investigative body as well as a separate and again independent, adjudicatory body.
I hope that the government will implement the recommendations made by Dame Janet in the final Shipman report as quickly as possible so that public confidence is restored, and members of the public can be reassured that patient safety remains of paramount concern."
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