Relicensing

All licensed doctors will need to demonstrate to the GMC that they are practising in accordance with the generic standards of practice set by the GMC (as described in Good Medical Practice).

For most doctors, they will need to do this every five years. This is the process known as relicensing.

In order to relicense, doctors will need to collect a folder of information about their practice. This will include, for example, information about appraisal, CPD, audit, and patient and colleague feedback.

Relicensing will have three main elements:

• Participation in annual appraisal within the workplace (based on the doctor’s folder of information)
• Participation in an independent process for obtaining feedback from patients (where applicable) and colleagues. See our Multi-source feedback for doctors page.
• Secure confirmation from the ‘responsible officer’ (usually the Medical Director) in their local healthcare organisation that any concerns about their practice have been resolved.

Most doctors already participate in annual appraisal and obtain feedback from patients and colleagues. Relicensing will build on what they are already doing.

The responsible officer will provide a recommendation to the GMC, on the basis of which we will make a decision whether the doctor’s licence should be renewed.

We do not expect to begin relicensing doctors until some time after we have introduced the licence to practise. We will give doctors ample notice before they are required to relicense.