Your Specialist or GP Qualification

If you are eligible for entry onto the Specialist or GP Registers because you hold a recognised specialist or GP qualification you should apply for this when you apply for full registration with a licence to practise.

You’ll need to have your recognised specialist or GP qualification independently verified before we can grant registration. Read about what primary source verification means for you.

If you were awarded your specialist or GP qualification more than three years prior to the date you submit your application, you’ll need to provide some additional information about the scope of your practice since being awarded the qualification.

There is guidance if your specialist or GP qualification was awarded less than three years ago.

CV and professional experience

You should submit a full CV in line with our CV guidance. This should match the information provided in the ‘work experience’ section of your application.

Any gaps in employment of more than 28 days should be recorded in your application.

Structured reports

Please make sure you’ve read the guidance for you and your referees.

You should provide a structured report which:

• Covers your most recent period of practice in the specialty you have applied in
• Is completed by a colleague at consultant level in the specialty

If you have not practised in the specialty you have applied in for more than three years, you may also wish to provide a structured report from a colleague who has worked with you more recently. An example of this would be if you have sub-specialised your practice since being awarded your recognised Specialist qualification.

You should also check if any additional references are required as listed for your recognised specialist qualification.

You should ask the referee to complete our reference form. You will need to provide their contact information in the ‘Referee details’ area of your online application and upload a copy of the reference in ‘Your evidence’.

We will contact your referees to verify the reports as part of the application process. If they are registered with the GMC, we will contact them by their registered email. You should provide a professional contact email for overseas referees who are not registered with the GMC.

Evidence to show you’ve maintained your practice in your specialty

As well as your CV and references we’ll need to see evidence of maintained practice in the specialty you were awarded your RSQ. You can do this in a number of ways:

Relevant Postgraduate Qualifications

• Have you passed a UK Royal College exam since being awarded your RSQ?
• Have you completed a postgraduate fellowship/subspecialty training since being awarded your RSQ?

Postgraduate qualifications will need to be verified by our third party provider.

Appraisal and revalidation

If you’re working in the UK health services, you can submit evidence of UK appraisal. The GMC hold a record of your revalidation history.

If you have only worked outside the UK, you can submit appraisal or similar system showing the breadth of your practice. If you are subject to a reaccreditation or process similar to revalidation in an overseas system, you may wish to provide evidence of this if it shows you have maintained practice in your specialty.

Evidence of this kind needs to be sent to RSQapps@gmc-uk.org by your appraiser from their GMC registered email address or a professional email address if not registered with the GMC. They should clearly state your name and GMC number in any correspondence.

Continuous Professional Development (CPD)

CPD is another way to demonstrate you have maintained your practice in the specialty you were awarded your RSQ. The most relevant evidence of CPD will be from the most recent three years of your practice, and we suggest a mix of the following:

• Clinical credits any event in which the educational content directly relates to clinical topics in the specialty you were awarded your qualification. These could include:
• Completing training courses
• Completing online and E learning
• Other structured, formal forms of learning
• External credits given for events outside your hospital such as attending workshops, conferences, seminars and study days. These may be regional, national or international meetings, and are often held by specialist societies, or are meetings that attendees pay for.
• Internal credits are events within or organised by the hospital/trust, or provided solely for local clinicians. E.g. hospital Grand Rounds, journal clubs, clinico-pathological conferences, local evening medical meetings, etc.
• Personal credits relate to study such as private reading, lecturing, researching etc.

To demonstrate this, you could submit:

• Certificates relating to CPD activity with accompanying event programmes (if applicable)
• Records of CPD activity. This could be in the form of:
• A personal log of CPD activity
• A CPD diary from a Royal College or Faculty CPD system
• Reflections on significant CPD activity which demonstrates your maintained practice

We have guidance on CPD which may help you decide what is relevant for your RSQ application.

We will then consider this evidence along with your CV, work experience and references to confirm if we can grant your specialist or GP registration.

If the decision maker on your application is unable to make a decision based on the evidence submitted, they may ask you to provide further documentation before making a final decision on your application.