CAMPAIGNERS last night called on the Government to replace the "discredited" General Medical Council as the body which regulates UK doctors, after further revelations over gynaecologist Richard Neale.

It follows a highly embarrassing U-turn by the GMC, which has admitted that it did know that the disgraced North Yorkshire consultant had been struck off in Canada in the late 1980s, but had decided to take no action.

Until this new admission, the GMC had maintained it had no knowledge of Neale until 1998.

Although Neale was subsequently struck off by the GMC in 2000 after botching a string of operations, campaigners representing about 300 former patients have always asked why the council did not act sooner.

Police files found by officials acting on behalf of the independent inquiry into the Neale affair show that the GMC was told about the Canadian ban but decided to take no action.

Neale was hired as a consultant gynaecologist and obstetrician by the Friarage Hospital in Northallerton in 1985, shortly after being banned from practising in Canada following the death of two patients.

The admission by the GMC was made in a letter to Sheila Wright-Hogeland, who lives near Kirkbymoorside, North Yorkshire.

She is the leader of a support group for Neale's victims.

In the letter, GMC chief executive Finlay Scott apologised for the fact that the organisation had the opportunity to take action over Neale in 1988, contrary to earlier statements, but had failed to do so. Mr Scott adds that this was "extraordinary" and "inexplicable".

Graham Maloney, an advisor to the support group, said: "This is an absolutely disgraceful situation. They could have prevented hundreds of women being injured by Neale. The GMC is out of date and discredited.

"It is time to replace the self-regulation of doctors with a more independent body."

A spokesman for the GMC said: "It is now evident that there was an explicit decision to take no action in the UK in relation to the events which led to Richard Neale's loss of licence in Ontario.

"The relevant GMC files no longer exist and the reasons for the decision are not wholly clear. However, there clearly was an opportunity to act in 1988 and we very much regret that the opportunity was not taken."

The GMC stressed that it now had the power to act on findings in other countries without having to hold new hearings.

The Neale inquiry's final report is due to be handed to Health Secretary John Reid early this summer.

Read more about the Richard Neale scandal here.