THE leader of the British Medical Association (BMA) has called for a new independent regulator as the current one is “failing to to protect patients and support doctors.”

Professor Philip Banfield, chairman of council at the BMA, is expected to warn the General Medical Council (GMC) has become an “abject failure” in his speech at the doctors’ union’s annual meeting in Liverpool today.

The professional body for doctors has long criticised the watchdog over its use of the term “medical professionals” to describe all those it regulates.

Doctors as well as physician associates (PAs) and anaesthesia associates (AAs) argue that this blurs the lines between doctors and non-doctors.

PAs are graduates — usually with a health or life sciences degree — who have undertaken two years of postgraduate training and support the work of doctors, while AAs work as part of the anaesthesia and wider surgical team.

The union will call for a new medical regulator which regulates doctors alone, and has a statutory duty to protect the public.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokeswoman said it has already announced a programme to modernise the regulation of healthcare professionals through its Plan for Change.