General information about registration and licensing
This page gives general information about doctors' registration and licence to practise.
Contents
- 1. Why register?
- 2. Types of registration
- 3. How to register
- 4. Staying registered
- 5. Approved practice settings (APS)
- 6. English language testing
- 7. Locums
- 8. Timescale for processing applications
- 9. Registration fees
- 10. Employing a doctor
1. Why register?
Doctors need to be both registered with us and hold a licence to practise if they want to:
- work as a doctor in the National Health Service (NHS) or in UK private practice
- prescribe prescription-only medicines
- sign certificates required for statutory purposes (death certificates, etc.).
For more information please see our complete list of the legal privileges and duties of doctors with registration and a licence to practise.
2. Types of registration
Under UK law, all doctors practising medicine in the UK must be registered with us and hold a licence to practise. For more detailed information please see our licensing pages.
As well as a licence to practise, doctors must ensure they hold the right kind of registration for the posts or practice they undertake.
Employers have to ensure they only employ doctors whose registration is suitable for the post they are undertaking.
There are four main types of registration and the assessment processes are different for each type:
Anyone can check the type of registration that a doctor has, whether they have a licence to practise, and the date from which it is effective, on the List of Registered Medical Practitioners.
Provisional registration
Provisional registration with a licence to practise only allows doctors to practise in approved Foundation Year 1 posts. Successful completion of such posts is marked by a certificate of experience. Most doctors complete this within 12 months.
The law doesn’t allow provisionally registered doctors to undertake any kind of service post, whether locum (LAS), or permanent. And, provisionally registered doctors can only work in locum appointments for training (LAT) posts when their Foundation School has been involved in their recruitment to that post, the post is part of a programme and leads to the award of a Certificate of Experience.
We typically grant provisional registration to doctors with the following nationality, rights and qualifications:
- UK medical graduates who have completed their medical degree at a UK University recognised in the Medical Act 1983
- International medical graduates who have an acceptable primary medical qualification and who have passed the PLAB test but who have not completed an internship
- Nationals from the EEA, Switzerland and other countries with EC rights who qualified outside of the EEA and Switzerland
Doctors who qualified in an EEA member state can apply to do their practical training (internship) in the UK if the practical training counts towards a medical degree which requires this for compliance with Directive 2005/36/EC.
Doctors who are eligible for full registration cannot apply for provisional registration.
Full registration
Doctors need full registration with a licence to practise for unsupervised medical practice in the NHS or UK private practice. To get full registration, doctors must:
- Complete an acceptable programme for provisionally registered doctors in the UK (F1); or
- Be an EC national (or have EC rights) and have formal qualifications in medicine listed in Annex V of Directive 2005/36/EC which entitle them to mutual recognition under EU legislation; or
- Be an EC national (or have EC rights) and have an acceptable primary medical qualification granted outside the EEA and have clinical experience and medical training which we recognise as at least as good as the UK foundation programme; or
- Be a national of a country outside EEA (an International Medical Graduate, or IMG) with an acceptable primary medical qualification and evidence that they have enough clinical experience to practise medicine in the UK. In practice, this evidence must be one of the following:
- A pass in the PLAB test
- Sponsorship
- Possession of an acceptable postgraduate qualification
- Eligibility for entry onto the Specialist or GP Register.
Specialist registration
Since 1 January 1997, the law has required doctors taking up consultant posts in a medical or surgical specialty in the NHS (other than as locum consultants) to be on our Specialist Register.
The only exceptions are doctors who held a consultant post (other than a locum consultant post) in oral and maxillo-facial surgery in the NHS immediately before 1 January 1997.
It is not possible to hold specialist registration without also holding full registration.
See our information about the Specialist Register.
GP registration
Since 1 April 2006, all doctors working in general practice in the health service in the UK (other than doctors in training such as GP Registrars) have been legally required to be on our GP Register.
It is not possible to hold GP registration without also holding full registration.
See our information about the GP Register.
3. How to register
To apply for registration with a licence to practise, doctors need to complete an application, pay a fee, provide evidence of identity, qualifications, and good standing, and attend an identity check.
The application requirements are different for each registration with a licence to practise route. Doctors can find detailed guidance on applications specific to their circumstances in our applications section.
4. Staying registered
To stay on the register, doctors need to keep their contact details up to date and pay an annual fee.
In addition, to keep a licence to practise, doctors need to prove their skills and knowledge are up to date by revalidating, usually every five years. You can find more information on the revalidation process in our revalidation section.
5. Approved practice settings (APS)
An approved practice setting (APS) is a clinical setting with systems for:
- effective management of doctors
- identifying and acting upon concerns about doctors' fitness to practise
- supporting the provision of relevant training or continuing professional development
- providing regulatory assurance.
From 3 December 2012, all UK and International Medical Graduate doctors granted full registration for the first time, and all doctors returning to full registration after a prolonged period out of UK practice, are restricted to practising only in an Approved Practice Setting (APS). We automatically remove this restriction from a doctor’s registration when they revalidate for the first time after joining, or returning to, the register.
Doctors can go to our APS page to see how APS restrictions apply to them.
If you are employing or contracting with newly fully registered and licensed UK graduates or IMGs you need to make sure your organisation is an approved practice setting. Organisations which are currently approved practice settings are listed on our online list of APS.
Please note that all Primary Care organisations (Primary Care Trusts in England, Area Health Boards in Scotland, Local Health Boards in Wales and Health and Social Services Boards or Health and Social Care Trusts in Northern Ireland) are automatically granted APS status. But this is only for the purpose of undertaking managed training (Foundation Programme training, or training as a GP Registrar). Therefore, they aren’t included on our online list of APS.
If you have any queries about an organisation's APS status, or wish to apply for APS status on behalf of your organisation, please contact aps@gmc-uk.org.
6. English language testing
Department of Health and NHS Employers guidance on international medical recruitment makes it clear that doctors recruited to work in the UK must be proficient in English so that they can communicate effectively with patients and with all individuals involved in their care.
All International Medical Graduates applying for provisional or full registration with a licence to practise must prove to us that they are proficient in English. To do this, they must obtain satisfactory scores in each of the four academic modules (speaking, listening, writing and reading) of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) test administered by the British Council. The only exceptions, under European law, are:
- nationals of Member States of the European Economic Area (EEA) other than the UK
- Swiss nationals who since 1 June 2002 benefit under European law
- any individual with European Community rights.
For further details about the IELTS test please read our guidance on English language proficiency.
We also recommend that you comply with the guidance issued by the Department of Health and by NHS Employers.
7. Locums
The Department of Health has issued guidance on the employment of locum doctors which can be found on their website.
8. Timescales for processing applications
We aim to process an application as quickly as possible. If we cannot grant an application within five working days of the date we receive it we will let the applicant know what further information we need. During our busy periods, January/February and July/August each year, it can take us longer to process applications. It helps us greatly if doctors can submit their application as early as possible.
In some cases, we might refer doctors' applications to a Registration Panel for advice. If a doctor's application is unsuccessful, we will give the reasons in writing together with advice on the next steps they can take.
You can find out more information about how doctors should register in our before you apply guidance.
9. Registration fees
Doctors with full registration (or who hold provisional registration for more than two years) must pay an annual retention fee to maintain their registration. The fee is due on the anniversary of the date they were granted full registration. The fee depends on whether a doctor holds a licence to practise or not. If a doctor does not pay their annual retention fee, we remove their name from the register. If the doctor then wants to restore their name to the register, they have to pay a restoration fee, as well as the registration fee. To avoid paying a restoration fee a doctor can apply to relinquish their registration (voluntary erasure) and/or their licence to practise. Our guidance on relinquishing your registration section, contains more information.
Neither the due date of an annual retention fee nor the letter of confirmation provides evidence that a doctor is registered. For full details see our fees page.
10. Employing a doctor
We have a dedicated service to help employers and contracting authorities make pre-employment checks.
For more detailed information on the checks you need to make when employing a doctor, please see our employing a doctor page.