Home > The medical register > Information for employers > Information about Registration

Information about Registration

This page is for employers and contracting authorities and gives general information about doctors' registration.

Important notice: new registration framework for doctors

Limited registration was abolished on 19 October 2007. This page provides some information about the new registration framework. For more detailed information please our New registration framework pages.

Important notice: pre-employment checks

Employers and contracting authorities have a duty to make vital pre-employment checks on a doctor's registration status with the GMC. Read more about the vital pre-employment checks in our factsheet 'Employing a doctor'.

Contents

Who can register?

The process for obtaining registration generally depends on the country where a doctor has obtained their primary medical qualification, their nationality and the nature and extent of their postgraduate experience.

There are four main groups of doctors for the purpose of registration. The registration processes are different for each group. Please see below for an explanation of the different types of registration referred to.

  • Doctors qualifying from a UK medical school are eligible for provisional and full registration.
  • Doctors qualifying in another EEA Member State and who are nationals of an EEA Member State (or non-EEA nationals with European Community (EC) rights) are eligible for full registration. They are also eligible to apply for provisional registration if their medical education includes a period of postgraduate clinical training (sometimes referred to as internship training). Click here (link) for a list of EEA countries. Since 1 June 2002, doctors qualifying in Switzerland and who are EEA nationals (or non-EEA nationals with EC rights) or Swiss nationals are also eligible for full registration. This also applies to Swiss nationals who have qualified in another EEA Member State.
  • Doctors who qualify in other countries not listed in this section may be eligible for provisional or full registration. These include non-EEA nationals who do not benefit under EC law because they have qualified in another EEA Member State. These doctors are referred to as International Medical Graduates (IMGs).
  • EEA nationals (and non-EEA nationals with EC rights) who qualify in other countries not listed above may be eligible for provisional or full registration if they have practised medicine in another EEA Member State.

Also

You may find it helpful to look at this flow chart, which sets out the different routes.

Approved practice settings

UK graduates and IMGs who are new to full registration and taking up a new job, or restoring their names to the register after a prolonged absence from practice, are required to work within a practice setting approved by the GMC as suitable for doctors new to full registration. We strongly advise EEA graduates to ensure they too work in an APS when they first take up employment in the UK under full registration. We also advise EEA doctors restored to the register after prolonged absence from UK practice to work initially in an APS.

An approved practice setting (APS) is one which 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. This will also help ensure that, in the small number of cases where problems arise, there are systems in place which are capable of detecting them early. For more information please see our guidance on approved practice settings.

If you are employing or contracting with newly fully registered UK graduates or IMGs, you will need to ensure that your organisation is an approved practice setting. View list of organisations which are currently approved practice settings.

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 only for the purpose of undertaking managed training; that is Foundation Programme training, or training as a GP Registrar. They are therefore not included in our online list of APS.

All other doctors whose primary care organisations employ or contract with them as GPs need to be on the GP Register. Doctors on the GP Register are not required to work in an approved practice setting.

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 nrf@gmc-uk.org.

Types of registration

Full registration

Doctors need full registration for unsupervised medical practice in the UK health service or private practice in the UK. They also need specialist registration if they wish to take up a consultant post (other than a locum consultant post), and/or GP registration if they wish to work as a GP (including in a locum capacity), within the UK health service.

Provisional registration

Provisional registration allows newly qualified doctors to undertake the general clinical training needed for full registration. A doctor who is provisionally registered is entitled to work only in a programme for provisionally registered doctors, currently Foundation Year 1 (F1).

Specialist registration

Since 1 January 1997 it has been a legal requirement that, in order to take up a consultant post (other than a locum consultant appointment) in a medical or surgical specialty in the UK health service a doctor must be included in the 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 UK health service immediately before 1 January 1997.

It is not possible to hold specialist registration without also holding full registration.

Although not a legal requirement, generally speaking, doctors wishing to work unsupervised in private practice in the UK will also need to hold specialist registration. This is because the major private health providers and insurance companies only recognise doctors whose names are included in the specialist register.

The specialist register is maintained by the GMC.

International Medical Graduates who are found eligible by PMETB for entry to the specialist register on the basis of overseas training are eligible to apply for full registration straight away without the requirement to work in an approved practice setting. See section 4 of our factsheet: Full registration for overseas qualified doctors who are specialists or General Practitioners.

GP registration

Doctors wishing to practise as GPs in the UK health service must be on the GP Register. This requirement came into force at midnight on 31 March 2006, and applies to all GPs including locums, but not to doctors in training such as GP Registrars.

It is not possible to hold GP registration without also holding full registration.

International Medical Graduates who are found eligible by PMETB for entry to the GP register on the basis of overseas training are eligible to apply for full registration straight away without the requirement to work in an approved practice setting. See our webpage Full registration for overseas qualified doctors who are specialists or General Practitioners.

The GP Register is maintained by the GMC.

See our guidance on the GP Register.

IMPORTANT – a doctor's application for registration must be granted before they can actually start working, and you must confirm their registration status with the GMC before allowing the doctor to start work.

Where a doctor's application has not yet been granted, or has been granted in advance, we cannot discuss their case with employers unless we have the doctor's written consent. Employers will need to obtain this from the doctor and fax it to us so we can discuss their registration application with them.

Preparing to take the PLAB test does not mean that a doctor can work in clinical practice in the UK health service without registration.

English language testing

Department of Health and NHS Employers guidance on international medical recruitment make 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 those individuals involved in their care.

All International Medical Graduates who apply for provisional or full registration must satisfy the GMC that they have the necessary knowledge of English. They are accordingly required to 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. 
  • UK nationals who have exercised, or are exercising, their European Community (EC) rights of free movement within the EEA. Generally speaking, exercising EC rights of free movement in this context means that the person must have worked as a doctor in another EEA Member State and be returning to the UK to take up employment. 
  • UK nationals and non-EEA nationals who are married to EEA nationals who are exercising, or have exercised, their EC rights of free movement within the EEA. Generally speaking exercising EC rights of free movement in this context means that the spouse must be coming to the UK to take up employment. 

For further details about the IELTS test please read our factsheet on English proficiency.

We recommend too that you comply with the guidance issued by the Department of Health at www.dh.gov.uk, and by NHS Employers at www.nhsemployers.org.

Locums

The Department of Health has issued guidance on the employment of locum doctors which can be found on their website at www.dh.gov.uk.

Applying for registration

Most applications for registration are now online applications. Doctors can apply online for registration in MyGMC. You can find specific guidance for each application type and the supporting evidence we require in our registration applications section.

Timescale for processing applications

We aim to complete the processing work to verify applications as quickly as possible. If we are not able to grant registration within five working days of the date we receive the doctor's application we will let him or her 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 together with all the paperwork as early as possible.

In some cases, we may need to refer doctors' applications to the Registration Panel for advice. If a doctor's application is not successful, we will give the reasons in writing together with advice on the next steps he or she can take.

You can find out more information about how doctors should register by reading our factsheet guidance notes for making an application for registration.

Registration fees

Doctors with full registration (or who hold provisional registration for more than two years) must pay an annual fee in order to maintain their registration. The fee is due on the anniversary date on which they were granted full registration. If a doctor does not pay their annual fee we will remove his or her name from the register. If this happens and the doctor wishes to restore his or her name to the register, he or she will be required to pay a restoration fee in addition to the registration fee. When they have paid their annual fee we send them an annual registration certificate.

Neither the due date of an annual retention fee nor an annual registration certificate provide evidence that a doctor is registered

Doctors over the age of 65 are currently exempt from paying the annual fee. The current fees for registration are listed in our factsheet on Fees.

 

New Registration Framework

Please see the documents below for information about the New Registration Framework, including the abolition of limited registration and the introduction of approved practice settings.