Received a GMC letter
Received a GMC letter or call? What to do today
If the GMC has written to you or called you, call us on 07356 071 193 before you reply or sign anything. This page sets out what to do in the first days, what to avoid and what happens next.
Today
What to do, and what not to do
Do
- Note every date in the letter and diarise the deadline for any response.
- Write down what you heard, from whom and when, if the GMC called you.
- Tell your medical defence organisation or insurer, even if you doubt your cover applies.
- Keep copies of the records, rotas and emails connected with the concern, without altering anything.
- Write a private note of what you remember while it is fresh.
- Speak to us before you reply to the GMC or sign anything.
Do not
- Reply to the GMC straight away to explain yourself.
- Contact the patient, the family or the person who raised the concern.
- Change or add to clinical records after the event.
- Discuss the case with colleagues who may become witnesses.
- Post about it online, even in a closed group.
What happens next
From triage to the Rule 7 letter
Most concerns close at the first stage, which the GMC calls triage. In 2025 the GMC triaged 13,465 concerns about doctors. It closed 12,146 of them at triage and opened 997 formal investigations. Our guide to what happens when the GMC receives a concern explains the test it applies.
If the GMC opens an investigation, it gathers records and witness statements. It then writes to you under Rule 7 of its Fitness to Practise Rules, setting out the allegations. The Rule 7 letter invites your written response within 28 days of its date, so diarise that date when the letter arrives. Our guide to writing a Rule 7 response explains what the case examiners look for.
At any stage the GMC can also refer you to an interim orders tribunal, which decides whether to restrict your practice while the investigation continues. Notice of that hearing can be short, so call us the day it arrives. Our guide to interim orders tribunals sets out how to prepare.
A first account given in haste is hard to move away from later. So take advice before you say anything of substance to the GMC, and let a considered written response do the work.
How we help
Fixed fees from the first letter
We act for doctors from the first GMC letter to a tribunal and appeal, on a fixed fee for each stage. A response to a GMC concern at triage costs £2,500 plus VAT, and the investigation to Rule 7 costs £9,500 plus VAT. Each fee includes a specialist barrister, whom we involve from the outset.
See GMC investigations and MPTS hearings for every stage, and fees and funding for the full menu. If your insurer or defence organisation has declined to help, read when your cover is refused or limited.
Every fee is stated plus VAT and includes a specialist barrister, whom we involve from the outset to give you additional support and advice. Fees do not include additional expenses such as expert fees, which we quote separately.
Read more
Guides on this subject
The GMC process
Health cases: when the concern is your own health
How a GMC health case works, from the health assessment to undertakings, and what stays confidential.
The GMC process
Social media and the GMC
What the GMC's social media guidance requires of doctors, where they run into trouble online and what to do next.
The GMC process
Dishonesty allegations: why the GMC treats them so seriously and how the Ivey test works
How the Ivey test for dishonesty works, how the GMC approaches dishonesty allegations, and what helps a doctor facing one.
Arrange a confidential conversation
Call 07356 071 193 or email hello@eloquia.co.uk. Your first conversation may be with our AI assistant, which tells you at the start that it is an AI assistant, not a person or a lawyer, and gives no legal advice. It takes your details and a short questionnaire for Saqib Khan, and where we can help we arrange an appointment with him at a time that suits you both. Our privacy notice explains how what you tell us is handled.