Disproportionate referrals of black and ethnic minority doctors have ‘halved since 2020’ says GMC

sturti/Getty Images

By Daniel Pye

Disproportionate referrals of doctors from black and ethnic minority backgrounds have more than halved since 2020 after “continued and concerted action”, said the General Medical Council (GMC).

The number of employers affected by disproportionate referrals in relation to their ethnicity or place of qualification has dropped by 57% over the past five years, according to the latest GMC equality, diversity and inclusion report.

Between 2021 and 2025, 2.4% of employers showed evidence of disproportionate fitness to practise referrals compared with 5.6% between 2016 to 2020.

This is evidence of “tangible improvements” tackling inequalities in medicine the GMC said.

Ethnic minority doctors still receive significantly more referrals than white doctors with 0.13% of white doctors referred to the GMC compared with 0.24% of ethnic minority doctors between 2021-25.

And international medical graduates (IMGs) experience a rate of referral of 0.26% compared to 0.13% of UK doctors, the data also revealed.

'System-wide action’ still needed