There are weaknesses in the current plans for regulating doctors to ensure they are fit to practise, MPs have said.
Identifying potentially dangerous doctors is seen in some quarters as "almost an insignificant part" of the appraisal process, according to a report from the Commons Health Committee.
At present, doctors can go for their entire career without facing any formal assessment of their competency.
The General Medical Council (GMC) hopes to change this by introducing "revalidation" - fitness to stay on the medical register - by the end of 2012. This would take the form of annual appraisal and a fuller meeting every five years.
Doctors will be expected to demonstrate they meet clinical standards and have kept up to speed with the latest developments in their field, while appraisals will include feedback from patients and colleagues.
Audits of how patients fare after seeing their doctor will also be included, alongside a requirement to ensure there are no causes for concern in how a doctor works.
The reforms are designed to help protect patients from another killer like GP Harold Shipman. The doctor, from Hyde in Greater Manchester, murdered more than 200 people over a period of 23 years.
In the report, MPs agreed that the focus of revalidation for most doctors should be a commitment to improvement.
But the need to "identify inadequate and dangerous doctors must not be overlooked or diminished in the general move to use revalidation to eliminate unsatisfactory practice and improve overall performance," they said.
A Department of Health spokeswoman said: "We welcome the report's recommendations and are pleased that most NHS organisations have or are in the process of appointing a Responsible Officer. They will have an important statutory role in evaluating the fitness to practise of individual doctors and the role is key to the implementation revalidation."
