Employing a doctor

This page is to help employers to understand their obligations relating to employing and contracting with doctors.

The GMC has a dedicated service to help employers and contracting authorities make pre-employment checks.

Please ensure you read about and understand the dedicated service for employers, and all of your obligations as an employer of doctors.

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Contents

1. Licence to practise
2. New registration framework for doctors
3. Helping employers make pre-employment checks
4. Doctors' requirement to hold GMC registration
5. Pre-employment checks for employers
6. What and how to check 
7. Post-employment checks for employers
8. GMC reference numbers
9. Identity checks for doctors  

Please note

Information about:

• Types of registration
• Routes to registration  

is provided in our general information about registration and licensing guidance.

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1. Licence to practise

From 16 November 2009 all doctors who practise medicine in the UK must be registered with the GMC and hold a licence to practise. For more detailed information please see our licensing pages.

2. New registration framework for doctors - the abolition of limited registration and the introduction of approved practice settings

Limited registration was abolished on 19 October 2007. You can find more information about the introduction of approved practice settings following the abolition of limited registration on our general information about registration and licensing page.

3. Helping employers make pre-employment checks

The GMC has a dedicated service to help employers and contracting authorities make pre-employment checks.

If you employ or contract with doctors, please telephone 0161 923 6602 (+44 161 923 6602 from outside the UK) or email registrationhelp@gmc-uk.org for details of how to access this service.

Failure to carry out these checks could put the safety, and even the lives, of patients at risk.

Full information is provided in our sections below:

• Pre-employment checks for employers
• Post-employment checks for employers

4. Requirement to hold GMC registration

Doctors need to be both registered and hold a licence to practise with the GMC to practise medicine in the UK. It is illegal for doctors to work in clinical practice in the UK Health Service if they are not registered with a licence to practise. Our online Register (opens in a new window) gives details of a doctor's status on the Register including the type of registration they hold and whether they have a licence to practise.

The type of work that requires doctors to be registered with a licence to practise includes:

• Working as a doctor in the UK health service.
• Prescribing drugs, the sale of which is restricted by law.
• Signing medical certificates required for statutory purposes (death certificates, etc.).

Our website holds a complete list of the legal privileges and duties of registration.

Doctors wishing to work in private practice in the UK must also be registered with a licence to practise with the GMC.

5. Pre-employment checks

You should always check that a doctor is both registered and holds a licence to practise with the GMC as part of your pre-employment checks.

Doctors appointed as consultants or GPs must, in addition, be on the Specialist or GP Register as appropriate. (Please note: There are exemptions to this - for full details of these exemptions please see the information on Specialist Registration and GP Registration on our general information about registration and licensing page.)

Do not rely on a locum agency to check a doctor's status on the Register for you. If a doctor has previously been employed elsewhere in the UK, you still need to check their registration and licensing details, as their status on the Register may have changed since they were last employed.

Neither the due date of an annual retention fee nor an annual registration confirmation letter are evidence that a doctor is registered with a licence to practise.

A doctor's application for registration with a licence to practise must be granted before they can actually start working, and you must confirm their status on the Register with the GMC before allowing the doctor to start work.

Preparing to take the PLAB test does not mean that a doctor can work in clinical practice in the UK health service. The doctor must hold registration with a licence to practise.

6. What and how to check

What to check

The checks you should carry out with the GMC are summarised below.

• Does the doctor hold registration?
• Does the doctor hold a licence to practise?
• Do any conditions or restrictions apply?
• Is the doctor currently undergoing investigation?
• Does the GMC reference number the doctor has given you match the details shown on the GMC's online Register?
• Are you sure of the doctor's identity?
• If the doctor is hoping to work as a GP in the UK health service, are they on the GP Register?
• If the doctor is hoping to work as a consultant in the UK health service, are they on the Specialist Register?

How to check

You should make these checks by using our dedicated service for employers and contracting authorities. Please telephone 0161 923 6602 (+44 161 923 6602 from outside the UK) or email registrationhelp@gmc-uk.org for details of how to access this service.

These checks will tell you whether the doctor you are employing is both registered and holds a licence to practise with the GMC and whether any special conditions apply.

Extra checks for employers

NHS Employers' has produced a set of 'Employment Check Standards' (external link) which provides useful information about all the other pre-employment checks you should make.

You should also check that the doctor is proficient in English.

7. Post-employment

List of Registered Medical Practitioners

You should use our online Register, the List of Registered Medical Practitioners, to make post-employment checks. The List of Registered Medical Practitioners is in the public domain and gives details of the doctor's:

• GMC reference number
• given names
• surname (including any former name)
• gender
• status on the Register, including whether the doctor holds a licence to practise
• any publicly available fitness to practise history since 20 October 2005
• year and place of primary medical degree
• date of provisional registration (where applicable) 
• date of full registration (where applicable) 
• entry on the Specialist and/or GP Register
• details of employment restrictions
• date of annual retention fee payment due

Administrative checks

Doctors may be erased from the Register for administrative reasons, such as failure to pay their annual retention fee or failure to maintain an effective registered address. For this reason we strongly recommend that you make regular checks of the doctor's status on the Register for all doctors in your employment to minimise any unnecessary disruption to your services caused by such erasures. You can check these details by accessing the List of Registered Medical Practitioners.

Doctors who discover that they have been removed from the Register under our administrative procedures should contact us urgently on 0161 923 6602 (+44 161 923 6602 from outside the UK) so that they can apply to be restored without delay.

Fitness to practise checks

We will automatically inform you if any doctor you are currently employing or contracting with is subject to a GMC investigation.

You should inform us if you judge that the fitness to practise of a doctor you are employing or contracting with may be impaired. Our 'Health Professional's Guide - How to Refer a Doctor to the GMC' page provides further information.

Other information

If you need other information relating to a doctor's registration or licence to practise which is not in the public domain, you should use our dedicated information service for employers.

Please telephone 0161 923 6602 (+44 161 923 6602 from outside the UK) or email registrationhelp@gmc-uk.org for details of how to access this service.

Extra checks for employers

Please note employers must make extra checks as well as the checks they make with the GMC. Failure to carry out these checks could put the safety, and even the lives, of patients at risk.

The NHS Employers website (external link) provides useful information about all the other pre-employment checks NHS employers must make.

8. GMC reference numbers

When doctors first make contact with the GMC they are given a seven digit reference number which they keep throughout their professional career. This reference number is therefore a unique identifier.

Checking the GMC reference number

Having a number does not mean that the doctor is currently on the Register, so it is important that you check the doctor's registration and licence to practise details with the GMC. You also need to do this to ensure that the GMC reference number you have been given is correct, and that it belongs to the doctor that you want to employ. Under no circumstances should a doctor use another doctor's GMC reference number.

Displaying names and GMC reference numbers

Paragraph 35 of Good Medical Practice requires doctors to make their reference numbers available to enable patients and the public to identify them easily.

We look to employers to help doctors comply with this requirement, by displaying their GMC reference numbers wherever possible - for example on stationery, door signs, name plaques.

View our guidance to doctors about names and GMC reference numbers.

9. Checking a doctor's identity

We require all new applicants for registration with a licence to practise, or those restoring their name to the Register, to undergo an identity check as part of the application process. This includes taking their photograph, which can be provided to employers to assist with confirmation of the identity and registration and licence to practise status of the doctor.

A certificate of registration, proof of entry on the Register letter, or confirmation that a doctor is registered with or without a licence to practise with the GMC is not evidence of a doctor's identity. You must undertake your own identity checks when employing a doctor, for example asking for their original passport or an original EEA identity card.

We hold photograph records for:

• All UK graduates who were granted registration after 1 July 2005
• All doctors taking the PLAB test from 1 May 2004
• All EEA doctors who were granted registration after 1 April 2005
• All doctors restored to the Register from 1 June 2005
• All other newly registered doctors from 1 August 2005

You can check the photo id held by the GMC for doctors by contacting us on 0161 923 6602 (+44 161 923 6602 from outside the UK) and asking for a copy of the photo held on our system. Please ensure that you provide an email address or fax number to which we can send the photo. We aim to respond to all enquiries within five working days.

If you have any doubts about a doctor's identity please contact the GMC on 0161 923 6602 (+44 161 923 6602 from outside the UK).