The barometer of Mr Dickson’s popularity with GPs will be the success or failure of revalidation.
The GMC is asking doctors to assess its own fitness to practise following concerns raised about the high proportion of black and ethnic minority doctors who face fitness-to-practise hearings and over suicides among doctors waiting for hearings.
But an even bigger test for the regulator - and for Mr Dickson - will be the ongoing process of revalidation and how the huge bureaucratic burden falls - both on GPs and on the GMC itself.
Mr Dickson - a former BBC reporter and chief executive of the Kings Fund - is a seasoned operator who wants to enhance public confidence in their doctors. He faces his toughest test as the first full year of revalidation rolls on and the first GP faces losing his licence to practise.
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