CAMPAIGNERS in the region have welcomed the Government's decision to postpone new tests for doctors.

The Department of Health has halted plans to introduce a new licensing system for doctors, which had been due to begin in April.

Under the revalidation scheme, proposed by the General Medical Council (GMC), doctors would face routine assessments to retain their right to practice.

But, following criticism of the role of the GMC by Dame Janet Smith in her five reports into Harold Shipman's murderous 23-year career, the Government said it now wanted to consult the entire medical profession.

Dame Janet suggested that the GMC should no longer deal with cases of misconduct. She proposed a new independent and impartial tribunal to handle disciplinary matters.

Health Minister Lord Warner said: ''It would be unfair to doctors and confusing for patients to start the new revalidation scheme on one basis and then to make changes after considering Dame Janet's report."

He said the review would look at the role of NHS appraisals and the GMC's arrangements for examining a doctor's fitness to practise.

Graham Maloney, advisor to the campaign group set up by victims of former Northallerton surgeon Richard Neale, said the Government's move was very encouraging but needed to go further.

He said: "The GMC has had so much criticism and it is important that that criticism is acted on."

The campaign group's long-held view that the GMC needed reform was vindicated by Dame Janet's fifth and final Shipman Inquiry report.

In the report, Dame Janet concluded that the GMC had failed to protect patients and instead acted in the interest of doctors during fitness to practise hearings.

A GMC spokeswoman said: ''We warmly welcome the review into the findings of the Shipman Inquiry and, in particular, on revalidation."