On 30 July 2026 the GMC published Concerns about fitness to practise: Annual statistical report 2025, its fitness to practise statistics for the year. It is the statutory report the GMC presents to Parliament each year under section 52A of the Medical Act 1983. The GMC redesigned the report this year to explain how concerns move through its process. It contains the clearest account yet of how often a concern about a doctor ends in action. If you have received a letter from the GMC, these are the numbers that put your position in proportion.
More concerns than ever
The GMC made 13,465 triage decisions about doctors in 2025, up 25 per cent from 10,769 in 2024. The report calls this the largest year on year increase in 20 years. It describes it as the continuation of a three year upward trend. Since 2020 triage decisions have increased by 60 per cent. Over the same period the number of doctors on the register grew by 22 per cent to 410,566. That works out at 33 triage decisions for every 1,000 registered doctors.
Members of the public raised 10,717 of these concerns, about 80 per cent. Persons acting in a public capacity raised 552, of which 190 came from employers, and other sources raised 2,196. The GMC says the reasons for the rise in public concerns are not yet fully understood. It notes that other regulators have reported similar increases. It also points to greater awareness of how to complain, and to its own measures such as reporting by telephone, as likely factors.
Most concerns close at triage
Of the 13,465 concerns, 12,146 closed at the end of triage. The GMC referred 291 to the doctor's employer or responsible officer. Only 997 became formal investigations. Another 31 were awaiting the outcome of a provisional enquiry when the GMC extracted the data on 5 January 2026. In other words, about nine concerns in every ten closed without any investigation. And the GMC does not tell the doctor or the employer about a concern while it is at triage.
The GMC opened 554 provisional enquiries, the limited enquiries it uses when the first information is too thin to decide. Of those, 467 closed and 56 became investigations. The number of investigations opened at initial triage rose by 12 per cent. The GMC attributes that rise to the higher volume of concerns rather than to any change in the proportion reaching investigation.
What case examiners decided
Case examiners, who decide the outcome at the end of an investigation, made 679 decisions in 2025. They concluded 309 with no further action, gave advice in 16, issued 110 warnings, agreed undertakings in 60 and referred 184 cases to a tribunal. The footnotes add detail. Thirteen of the referrals followed a doctor's refusal to accept undertakings. And in 20 of the warnings, the doctor refused the warning but later accepted it or the Investigation Committee confirmed it. A further 32 conviction cases went to a tribunal directly through the Registrar. Case examiners also granted voluntary erasure in 25 cases. The Investigation Committee held 13 hearings, upholding a warning in 7 and taking no further action in 6.
Interim orders
Interim orders tribunals decide whether to restrict a doctor's practice while an investigation continues. They reached 350 outcomes in 2025. They imposed conditions in 229 cases, suspended the doctor in 55 and made no order in 66. Conditions remain by far the most common result. The GMC reports that the proportion of suspensions stayed broadly stable.
Tribunal outcomes
There were 160 medical practitioners tribunal outcomes in 2025, slightly fewer than the 185 in 2024. Tribunals found impairment in 124 cases. They erased 48 doctors, suspended 68, imposed conditions on 7 and took no further action in 1. They found no impairment in 34 cases and issued a warning in 11 of them, and 2 doctors received voluntary erasure. Suspension and erasure together accounted for 116 of the 160 outcomes. The GMC reports that over 90 per cent of cases brought to a tribunal involved misconduct, criminal convictions or both.
Appeals
Ten GMC appeals against tribunal decisions were in progress during 2025. The courts allowed three and dismissed one, and six were outstanding at the time of reporting. The GMC states that since its appeal power began in 2016, cases involving sexual misconduct have accounted for over 40 per cent of its appeals. It adds that around seven in ten concluded appeals have produced a successful outcome for it.
Who is referred
The report includes a table of decisions by protected characteristic. The GMC asks readers to interpret it with caution, because summary tables do not capture the nature of concerns or the source of a referral. With that caveat, the table shows that men make up 50.5 per cent of the register but 77.0 per cent of case examiner outcomes. Black and Black British doctors make up 7.3 per cent of the register but 11.5 per cent of case examiner outcomes and 13.8 per cent of tribunal outcomes. Doctors who have declared a disability make up 5.3 per cent of the register and 11.9 per cent of tribunal outcomes. The GMC says it publishes more detailed analysis of these patterns separately.
What the numbers mean for you
Three points stand out. First, a concern, even a formal one, is far more likely to close than to reach a hearing. Second, once a case reaches case examiners, the outcome is open, and in 2025 almost half of their decisions ended with no further action. Third, a case that reaches a tribunal is usually serious. Tribunals deal mainly with misconduct and convictions, and most impairment findings ended in suspension or erasure. That is why your written response, and the evidence behind it, carries so much weight. That work happens before the case examiners decide.
These are the GMC's figures for doctors. The NMC, the GDC, the GPhC and the HCPC publish their own reports under their own processes, and our pages for each profession set those processes out.
Eloquia acts for doctors in GMC investigations on fixed fees by stage, each stated plus VAT. A specialist barrister is involved from the outset and the fee includes their work, while we quote expert fees separately. Our page on GMC investigations explains each stage, and our fees and funding page sets out what each one costs.
Physician associates and anaesthesia associates, whom the GMC has regulated since December 2024, are not in these figures. The GMC says it has received too few concerns about them to report while protecting the anonymity of the people involved.
