The chief executive of the UK's General Medical Council spoke at the British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin conference, warning that dealing with dealing with discrimination in medicine was one of the most "pressing priorities" across the NHS. The GMC has reported that doctors from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds are twice as likely as white doctors to be referred for fitness to practice issues and that the referral rate for internationally-educated doctors is three times higher that for UK doctors. The GMC has set a five-year target for eliminating this disproportion of complaints, including redesigning the referral process to require officers to confirm the steps taken to reach an appropriate referral.