Do not impose personal views or beliefs on patients, doctors told

Doctors have been issued new guidance stipulating they must not impose their personal views, beliefs, or values on others.

The General Medical Council (GMC) has published the draft rules, currently open for consultation, which apply to all doctors, physician associates, and anaesthesia associates across the UK.

The guidance explicitly states that medics should not treat colleagues poorly based on assumptions about their beliefs or due to disagreements with their views.

It also makes clear that personal beliefs or values must not be imposed on patients.

The doctors’ regulator clarified that these directives relate specifically to professional practice and do not cover healthcare workers expressing their beliefs or values outside of the workplace.

This updated draft guidance follows a series of incidents involving healthcare professionals, both within and outside their professional duties.

The regulator is seeking views on draft updates to its “personal beliefs and medical practice guidance”, which also includes information about conscientious objections to providing certain treatment or procedures – which could include abortions.

The guidance states patients must be prioritised and that such an objection must not prevent a patient from being able to access the care or service they need.

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Source: The Independent, 19 March 2026