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Types of registration
As well as ensuring you hold a licence to practise, you must ensure that your registration is appropriate for the type of post or practice that you will be undertaking.
You can check the type of registration that you have, whether you have a licence to practise, and the date from which it is effective, on the online register on the online register.
There are four main types of registration. The assessment processes are different for each type and also each group of applicants. New registrants may be required to work in an approved practice setting until their first revalidation.
- Provisional registration
- Full registration
- Specialist registration
- GP registration
- Approved practice settings
Provisional registration
You need provisional registration with a licence to practise to undertake the general clinical training needed for full registration.
Provisional registration with a licence to practise only allows doctors to participate in programmes for provisionally registered doctors. This means that they can only 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 does not allow provisionally registered doctors to undertake any other type of post. That exclusion applies to service posts at F1 level and regardless of whether the post is substantive or locum. Provisionally registered doctors may only undertake locum appointments for training (LAT) posts where the Foundation School has been involved in the recruitment of the doctor to that post, the post is part of a programme and leads to the award of a Certificate of Experience.
Full registration
You need full registration with a licence to practise for medical practice in the UK (including private practice). Generally speaking, doctors who have undertaken a satisfactory period of experience under provisional registration may apply for full registration. Some doctors qualifying from outside the UK may be eligible to apply directly for full registration.
Specialist registration
To take up an honorary, fixed term or substantive consultant post in the UK Health Services, you must be on the Specialist Register.
It is not possible to be entered on the Specialist Register without also holding full registration.
GP registration
If you are a GP in the UK Health Services, other than a trainee, you must be on the GP Register.
It is not possible to be entered on the GP Register without also holding full registration.
Approved practice settings
All UK and International Medical Graduate doctors granted full registration for the first time, and all doctors restoring to full registration after a break in UK practice, are required to work in an APS until their first revalidation.
An approved practice setting is an organisation that has systems for the effective management of doctors, systems for identifying and acting upon concerns about doctors' fitness to practise, systems to support the provision of relevant training or continuing professional development, and systems for providing regulatory assurance.
You can read more about approved practice settings on the full website.