ABSTRACT
Medical education is widely regarded as a very conservative part of a conservative profession but in the early 1990s change swept through UK medical schools. Formal regulation of medical education in the UK began with the Medical Act of 1858 which established the General Council for Medical Education and Registration and gave it authority to determine what constituted adequate education for a registered medical practitioner. Abraham Flexner identified the need for a sound education in science as a basis for medical education. He also emphasised the need for formal clinical instruction. As early as 1918 the great physiologist Ernest Starling highlighted the need for basic medical training to include aspects of public and community health. The General Medical Council (GMC) produced a series of recommendations for basic medical education in 1993 entitled Tomorrow's Doctors. Traditionally, the curriculum in medical schools was the responsibility of the individual departments.
