Regulating doctors, ensuring good medical practice

Views sought on overseas doctor tests

Press Release

31 Jan 2012

The General Medical Council is reviewing its test for doctors from outside Europe who want to register in the UK.

We want to make sure our PLAB test reflects best practice. We are therefore keen to hear from anyone with ideas or information that may be helpful to the expert panel conducting the review.

Niall Dickson, the Chief Executive of the GMC

An independent expert group will oversee the process over the next year and they would like to hear from a wide range of interested parties.

The Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board (PLAB) test is the main route through which doctors who qualified outside the UK or EEA demonstrate their clinical skills before they join the UK medical register. The two-part test is set at the level of skill and knowledge expected of a UK graduate after their first year of training – the end of Foundation Year 1.

The in-depth review will make sure that the PLAB test continues to represent best practice in medical testing. The test was last reviewed in 2003.

The GMC’s expert group will be headed by an independent chair, Ian Cumming OBE, National Director for Quality at the Department of Health (England) and former Chief Executive of NHS West Midlands, supported by eight others with a range of relevant expertise, including perspectives from patients, employers, medical educators, and overseas doctors.

The group has issued a call for written evidence on the PLAB test, and the GMC will commission research to support the review alongside a literature review on best practice in comparable examinations.

Niall Dickson, the Chief Executive of the General Medical Council, said:

‘The NHS has long relied on the skills and professionalism of doctors who trained outside the UK, and of course it is vital that every doctor coming to work here has the skills to treat patients safely and effectively.

‘The current review reflects that fact that medical education and practice are constantly changing as are the techniques used for testing knowledge, skills and competencies. We want to make sure our PLAB test reflects best practice. We are therefore keen to hear from anyone with ideas or information that may be helpful to the expert panel conducting the review.'

Find out more and take part in the PLAB test review. The group’s final report is expected to be completed in early 2013. 

Notes to Editor

What is the PLAB test?

Doctors have to demonstrate their clinical skills and competence before they can join the medical register in the UK. Most doctors from outside the EEA take the PLAB test in order to do this, as well as having a medical qualification which is recognised by the GMC. There are two parts to the current test:

PLAB Part 1 – an exam paper which doctors can take in London or at British Council-run exam centres around the world.

PLAB Part 2 – If doctors pass PLAB 1, they may apply to take PLAB 2. This is an ‘objective structured clinical examination’ (OSCE), with doctors judged on their clinical skills in situations where actors play the roles of patients. Part 2 exams are held throughout the year at the GMC’s assessment centre in Manchester.

The PLAB test was first introduced in 1979.

Last year, 4,068 doctors sat PLAB 1, with 35% passing. 2,637 sat PLAB 2, with 70% passing and becoming eligible to apply for UK medical registration.

For further information please contact the Media Relations Office on 020 7189 5454, out of hours 020 7189 5444/ 07920 461497, email press@gmc-uk.org, website www.gmc-uk.org.

The General Medical Council registers and licenses doctors to practise medicine in the UK.

The law gives us four main functions:

  • keeping up-to-date registers of qualified doctors
  • fostering good medical practice
  • promoting high standards of medical education and training
  • dealing firmly and fairly with doctors whose fitness to practise is in doubt