The General Medical Council (GMC) hosted a meeting of medical regulators from 17 European countries and the European Commission on 2 July 2010 to discuss the EU Directive on the recognition of professional qualifications.
The meeting was chaired by the Chief Executive of the GMC, Niall Dickson, and provided regulators with an opportunity to share their practical experiences of how the Directive is working in their countries.
Attendees discussed a number of key areas covered by the Directive, including the recognition and registration processes for EEA doctors, language competence of doctors, cross-border sharing of information, continuous professional development and education standards.
The Directive is likely to be reviewed by the European Commission in 2012. The GMC organised this meeting in conjunction with the Commission, the Conseil National de l'Ordre des Médecins (the French Order of Doctors), and the Bundesärztekammer (the German Medical Association) to gather evidence to assist this review.
“This was an important opportunity to share experiences of how the Directive is working in practice. For us ensuring patient safety and improving standards of practice are paramount but we also recognise the vital role migrating doctors have played in the delivering high quality care in the UK. We are committed to working with colleagues from the Commission and across Europe as the Directive is reviewed.”
Medical regulators from Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, France, Hungary, Luxembourg, Malta, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Slovenia and the UK attended the meeting.
Notes to Editors:
For further information please contact the Media Relations Office on 020 7189 5454, out of hours 020 7189 5444, email press@gmc-uk.org, website www.gmc-uk.org.
The General Medical Council registers and licenses doctors to practise medicine in the UK. Our purpose is summed up in the phrase: Regulating doctors, Ensuring Good Medical Practice.
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
Merger of PMETB with GMC
The functions of the Postgraduate Medical Education and Training Board (PMETB) transferred to the GMC on 1 April 2010, creating a simpler and clearer framework for the regulation of medical education and training. All stages of medical education and training now fall under the GMC’s remit. For more information please visit www.gmc-uk.org.
Office of the Health Professions Adjudicator (OHPA)
From April 2011, the adjudication of fitness to practise cases involving doctors will transfer from the GMC to a new body called the Office of the Health Professions Adjudicator (OHPA). OHPA is being established under the Health and Social Care Act 2008. It is being created to ensure clear separation between the investigation of fitness to practise cases and the process of determining whether a professional’s fitness to practise is impaired.
To begin with, the new body will be responsible for making decisions on fitness to practise cases brought forward by the GMC and, in time, the General Optical Council. Over time, other regulators of healthcare professionals may transfer their adjudication functions to OHPA. For more information about OHPA, please visit www.ohpa.org.uk
The GMC will remain the regulator for doctors, continuing to set the standards for professional practice and receiving and investigating allegations about their fitness to practise.
