Regulating doctors, ensuring good medical practice

Applying for entry onto the Specialist Register for doctors who hold full registration

This page is for doctors who hold full registration and want to be entered onto the Specialist Register.

You must hold full registration to be entered onto the Specialist Register. If you do not hold full registration, but are a qualified specialist, you should find the right guidance for you in our applying to join the Register section (opens in a new window). This will tell you how to apply for entry onto the Specialist Register at the same time as you apply for full registration with a licence to practise.

You can check your status on the Specialist Register by looking online at the List of Registered Medical Practitioners (LRMP) (opens in a new window).

1. Background to the Specialist Register
2. I achieved my specialist qualification in the UK
3. I achieved my specialist qualification in a country in the EEA or Switzerland
4. I achieved my specialist qualification outside of the UK and the EEA or Switzerland

1. Background to the Specialist Register

The GMC is required by law to maintain the Specialist Register. Since 1 January 1997 a doctor may not take up appointment to any post as a consultant in the National Health Service (NHS) unless their name is included in the Specialist Register. An exception to this requirement is any doctor who held a post as a consultant in oral and maxillo-facial surgery in the NHS immediately before 1 January 1997.

Doctors need to apply for entry onto the Specialist Register and meet the criteria set down in legislation. Some will have completed a period of formal specialist training in the UK certified by the Postgraduate Medical Education and Training Board (PMETB) or its predecessor the Specialist Training Authority (STA). Others will have been awarded qualifications in specialised medicine by an appropriate competent authority in other Member States of the European Economic Area. Others still will have been found eligible by the PMETB or the STA following an assessment of the specialist training undertaken and/or the specialist qualifications awarded in the UK or elsewhere.

Because entry onto the Specialist Register is a requirement for appointment, rather than employment, as a consultant in the NHS some established NHS consultants are not entered onto the Specialist Register because they were appointed before 1 January 1997 when the requirement to be in the Specialist Register came into effect. Other doctors who are, or were, eligible to apply for entry onto the Specialist Register have chosen not to apply for entry because they did not, or do not, intend to seek appointment as a consultant in the NHS.

On 3 November 2008, the GMC launched a consultation on the restoration of what is known as the 'existing specialists' route to the Specialist Register, which would enable doctors who are not entered onto the Specialist Register but had been appointed as consultants in the NHS before 1 January 1997 to apply for entry onto the Specialist Register. Details of the consultation can be found on Registration News.

2. I achieved my specialist qualification in the UK

If you completed your specialist training after 1 February 2007, you will have been automatically entered onto the Specialist Register.

If you completed your specialist training after 12 January 1996, you should have been issued with a Certificate of Completion of Specialist Training (CCST) by STA or a Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT) by PMETB. Along with the certificate you were issued an application form. Please complete this and send it to us at:

General Medical Council
Registration Support Team (Updates)
3 Hardman Street
Manchester
M3 3AW

If you completed your specialist training before 12 January 1996, and are not yet entered onto the Specialist Register, you may be required to have your eligibility to be entered onto the Specialist Register assessed by PMETB (opens in a new window).

Alternatively, if you are currently registered with the GMC, and were appointed to a substantive, honorary or fixed term consultant post in the NHS or UK Armed Forces prior to 1 January 1997, you can apply for entry onto the Specialist Register utilising the scheme for existing specialists.

If you meet this criteria and want to make an application, please complete an application form (pdf)

If you are not currently registered with us you must apply for restoration before you can make an application for entry onto the Specialist Register under this scheme.

If you have completed your specialist training in the UK and none of the above applies to you, then you may be required to have your eligibility assessed by PMETB (opens in a new window).

3. I achieved my specialist qualification in a country in the EEA or Switzerland

If you achieved your specialist qualification in a country in the EEA and want to work in the UK as a specialist, you should log in to MyGMC and make your application for entry onto the Specialist Register in the My Registration section.

If your qualification is not listed in Directive 2005/36/EC, or you have not completed the minimum length of training in your specialty, we may ask you for a certificate from the competent authority in the country where you qualified, to prove that your qualification complies with the standards of the Directive. In some cases, you may be required to have your eligibility assessed by PMETB (opens in a new window).

MyGMC

Existing users

If you already have a MyGMC account, you can log in here and make your application in the My Registration section.

New users

If you have a GMC reference number, but have never logged into MyGMC and do not have log in details, you can request them here.

Request log in details (opens in a new window).

4. I achieved my specialist qualification outside of the UK and the EEA or Switzerland

You are required to have your eligibility for entry onto the Specialist Register assessed by PMETB or STA.

If you have been found eligible by PMETB after 1 February 2007, you will have been automatically entered onto the Specialist Register.

If you were found eligible by STA or PMETB after 12 January 1996, you should have been issued with a Certificate of Completion of Specialist Training (CCST) by STA or a Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT) by PMETB. Along with the certificate you were issued an application form. Please complete this and send it to us at: