Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has had discussions with the General Medical Council on the provision of mental health support for patients who have sought a private diagnosis.

My Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, has not had any discussions with the General Medical Council (GMC) on the provision of mental health support for patients who have sought a private diagnosis. The GMC is the independent regulator of all medical doctors practising in the United Kingdom, which sets and enforces the standards all doctors must adhere to.

To work in the UK, all doctors, including private doctors, must register with the General Medical Council (GMC), hold a licence to practise and meet the expected standards set out in the GMC’s guidance, Good medical practice. The guidance states that doctors must check that the care or treatment they provide for each patient is compatible with any other treatments the patient is receiving.