In the UK, the official body that licenses qualified doctors to practise medicine.
A statutory body in the UK with equal numbers of appointed medical practitioners and appointed lay members with the responsibility of protecting patients and guiding doctors in their professional practice. Set up by parliament in 1858 at the request of the medical profession, which was concerned by the large numbers of untrained people practicing as doctors the GMC is responsible for setting educational and professional standards; maintaining a register of qualified practitioners; and disciplining doctors who fail to maintain appropriate professional standards, placing conditions on their practice or temporarily or permanently removing them from the Medical Register if their fitness to practice is judged to be impaired by misconduct, ill-health or poor performance.