How we use your fee

Supporting doctors with their practice

We support doctors with their practice to help them deliver the highest standard of care to patients. In 2020 we'll continue to invest in this area to help create safer, supportive and inclusive working environments across the four countries of the UK. Throughout the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, we’ve done everything we can to help the UK’s health services to prioritise frontline care. Find out more about our work to support doctors and patients during this difficult time, and read this message to the profession from our Chair, Dame Clare Marx about our work during the pandemic.

As part of our work programme, we will:

• take forward recommendations made in the independent reports into wellbeing, gross negligence manslaughter and culpable homicide and why some groups of doctors are referred into our processes more than others
• strengthen our liaison service, so they can continue to provide timely and relevant support to doctors and employers
• help doctors address unprofessional behaviour at work through our Professional behaviours and patient safety programme
• continue to expand our Welcome to UK practice programme, which offers free workshops to doctors new to the UK.

Overseeing the quality of doctors’ education and training

We set the standards for, and check the quality of, undergraduate and postgraduate medical education and training.

We use a variety of methods to make sure doctors receive a high standard of training in safe environments. These include visiting medical schools and training programmes, and carrying out our annual national training surveys. 

But when our standards aren’t met, we take appropriate action. This can include placing organisations in enhanced monitoring. 

Through enhanced monitoring we work with organisations to address concerns about training and find sustainable solutions. This leads to long lasting improvements that benefit both doctors and patients. 

Revalidation and managing the medical register

Our medical register holds the details of the 311,000 doctors who are qualified to work in the UK. We keep this up to date by checking the identity and qualifications of every doctor that applies to join the register.  

We also work with responsible officers and suitable persons, to make sure doctors are giving good care to patients, their knowledge and skills are up to date, and they are fit to practise through revalidation. Appraisal and revalidation allow doctors to reflect on their practice and support their professional development. 

In 2019, we approved 98 per cent of revalidation recommendations within five working days.

We continue to work with our partners to explore how we can further develop and improve appraisal and revalidation, to make sure they are positive experiences for all doctors.

Managing complaints about doctors

We assess concerns about doctors and act if we believe patient safety or the public’s confidence in the profession is at risk. 

In recent years, we’ve reduced the proportion we spend on investigations by taking steps to streamline our processes. This means we've been able to invest in other areas that aim to support doctors and improve workplace cultures.

Managing the organisation

We have more than 1,400 staff who work across five locations in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Our teams help to protect patient safety and support medical education and practice.

We work with doctors, employers, educators and patient organisations to help maintain standards, and make sure doctors can deliver a high standard of care to patients.

We also have a dedicated data team to better understand the issues that doctors face. This helps us identify emerging risks and opportunities for safe medical practice across the UK.