Demonstrating specialist and general practice registration

Confirming your specialist or GP registration with other regulators

You may be asked by an overseas medical regulator for confirmation of your specialist or GP training or on what basis you have a right to practise in the UK. If you need evidence of this please contact us at portfolio@gmc-uk.org.

Verify a specialist or GP certificate

For more information see our guidance on verifying specialist and GP certificates.

Request a duplicate copy of your CCT certificate

For more information on how to request a duplicate CCT certificate see our guidance on requesting a duplicate copy of your certificate.

We no longer issue duplicate copies of registration certificates (for example CESR and CEGPR) as part of our work to retire registration certificates generally. Instead, a doctor’s registration status can be checked on our online registers.

Do you have concerns about a certificate?

If you have any concerns about the validity of a certificate, you can check our medical register. This provides secure, reliable and real-time validated information about an individual's registration and licence history, as well as any fitness to practise history.

If you find that the individual named on the certificate is not on the Specialist Register or General Practice Register, please contact us.

Certificate of completion of training (CCT)

A CCT is a qualification which is awarded with a certificate upon completion of an approved programme of training in the UK. This is one of the pathways which allows entry onto the General Practitioner (GP) Register or Specialist Register. We have approved and quality assured training programmes in 65 specialties.

GMC certificates

Certificate of Eligibility for General Practice Registration (CEGPR) or Certificate of Eligibility for Specialist Registration (CESR)

These certificates have been issued to doctors who have been found eligible for entry on to the specialist or GP register after demonstrating they have qualifications and/or training when taken together are considered to demonstrate equivalence to a CCT.

GMC Certificates 1994–1996

The GMC also issued the Certificate of Specialist Training (CST) from 1994 to 1996.

The CST confirmed completion of UK specialist training and that this met the minimum requirements of the 1975 EC Directive. It did not entitle a doctor to be a consultant in the UK or confer entitlement to Specialist Registration when the Specialist Register was created.

Postgraduate Medical Education and Training Board (PMETB) certificates

The PMETB was the authority for Specialist and GP certification from September 2005 to April 2010.

The PMETB issued CCTs for doctors completing the approved UK training programme for specialists and GPs.

The Certificates of Equivalence that the PMETB issued were issued under the various routes listed in the European Specialist Medical Qualifications Order 2005. GP applications were processed under Article 11 and Specialist applications were processed under Article 14.

Specialist Training Authority (STA) certificates

The STA was the authority for Specialist certification from the creation of the Specialist Register in 1996 until September 2005. The STA did not deal with GP Certification.

The STA issued Certificate of Completions of Specialist Training (CCSTs) to doctors who completed a UK approved training programme.

Doctors who had not completed the UK approved training programme could show their equivalence to the STA through a number of routes available under the European Specialist Medical Qualifications Order 1995.

STA didn’t enter doctors onto the Specialist Register – this was done by the GMC, upon an application by the doctor.

Joint Committee on Postgraduate Training for General Practice (JCPTGP) certificates

The JCPTGP was the authority for GP certification from February 1981 to September 2005. The JCPTGP did not deal with Specialist Certification.

The JCPTGP issued Certificates of Prescribed or Equivalent Experience. These Certificates allowed doctors to work as a GP.

Certificates of Prescribed Experience confirmed a doctor had followed an approved training path within the timeframe permitted (7 years).

Certificates of Equivalent Experience meant some or all training posts and experience were outside of the approved training scheme, or outside of the timeframe permitted.

Certificates of Accreditation

These were issued by Royal Colleges to confirm completion of specialist training before the STA was created.Not all Colleges issued Certificates of Accreditation. Some awarded Fellowships instead.

Some Certificates of Accreditation were issued by the Joint Committee on Higher Medical Training (JCHMT) which was a predecessor of the Joint Committee for Surgical Training and Joint Royal Colleges of Physicians Training Board. They called their certificates Certificate of Completion of Specialist Training – these certificates are not the same as CCSTs issued by the STA.