THE victims of Richard Neale say they feel vindicated by yesterday's indictment of the watchdog in charge of regulating Britain's doctors.

After years of protesting that the General Medical Council (GMC) seemed to be more interested in protecting doctors than helping patients pursue their complaints, they have been proved right.

Neale, a consultant gynaecologist at the Friarage Hospital in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, between 1985 and 1995, was struck off the medical register in 2000 for botching operations, lying to patients and altering records.

Frustrated by the lack of response to complaints, victims mounted a campaign that resulted in Neale being kicked out of the medical profession.

Strong criticism of the GMC was made by Dame Janet Smith, the High Court judge in charge of the inquiry into serial killer Dr Harold Shipman.

Yesterday, Dame Janet criticised the GMC in her fifth and final report and recommended widespread reforms.

She concluded that the council has, in the past, failed to protect patients and instead acted in the interests of doctors during fitness to practise hearings.

Recommending that the GMC should be stripped of its right to judge misconduct cases, she demanded that an independent and impartial tribunal be set up to deal with such cases.

The report said: "There must be a complete separation of the GMC's casework and governance functions at the investigation stage of the new fitness to practise procedures."

But she stopped short of calling for the GMC to be abolished and accepted that it had not been at fault in its handling of the Shipman case.

The judge also called for a significant change of culture within the organisation because it tended to favour the interests of doctors.

In the report, she said that more lay people should be on the GMC so that members elected by the medical profession no longer have an overall majority.

The report recognised that changes were taking place at the GMC, but said many did not go far enough.

She also called for an independent review of the new-look GMC to be carried out within four years, with the possibility of more powers being removed.

While the focus of the report was Shipman, a GP who murdered at least 215 patients by morphine injections while working in Hyde, Greater Manchester, it was also seen as a broader response to issues raised by the Neale case.

Two months ago, the independent inquiry into the Neale affair exposed a catalogue of errors by managers, doctors, health authority officials and the GMC.

But victims were particularly angered by a blunder by the GMC, which allowed the surgeon to continue operating on British women after being struck off in Canada after the deaths of two patients.

The GMC admitted it had the opportunity to take action against Neale in 1988 but failed to do so because of an administrative error.

The Neale inquiry report called for better checks before doctors are recruited, better handling of complaints and a new approach to overseeing the employment of doctors.

Graham Maloney, advisor to the Neale victims support group, said: "I am so pleased she has criticised the GMC because it was about time someone did.

"While I am disappointed she has not recommended abolition, we now need the Health Secretary to quickly implement her recommendations."