Changes to GMC registration

What are the changes to GMC registration? After the 31st December 2003, the GMC will no longer allow doctors from Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, the West Indies, Hong Kong and Malaysia to directly apply for full registration. Subsequently, these doctors will be required to write the PLAB examination prior to being able to practice medicine in the UK. EEA graduates will continue to be eligible for full registration. Therefore, it is essential that doctors have all their documentation complete and ready for submission. If your complete application is not correctly submitted to the GMC by the 31st December 2003, you will not be registered and you will not be able to discuss or negotiate extra time to register or submit outstanding documents. What happens if I held full GMC registration or I am or have been on the GMC overseas list in the past? The overseas registration list will be abolished on 31st December 2003. If you wish to practice in the UK, you need to restore your GMC membership. The cost of restoration is currently £580 (£290 restoration plus £290 fee for current year) but please email our office for our comprehensive restoration application pack. When do the changes occur? The GMC has agreed to process all non-EEA doctors applying for full registration up until 31st December 2003 although this applies only to doctors who have qualified before 31st October 2003. In other words, current medical students who graduate after the 31st October 2003 will not be eligible for full registration. What happens after then? After 31st December 2003, all non EEA qualified doctors wishing to practice within the UK will be required to sit the PLAB (Professional Linguistics and Assessment Board) examination unless they are exempted for some reason (typically by virtue of higher specialist training). After passing the PLAB, you will only be eligible for limited registration which enables you to practice only in certain NHS posts which are currently difficult to obtain. You will not be able to do any form of private practice or RMO work with limited registration. What is the PLAB examination? The PLAB test (Professional and Linguistics Assessment Board) assesses the suitability of applicants to function within a UK hospital at senior house officer (SHO) level. The PLAB test currently consists of a part 1 and part 2 examination where Part 1 examines professional knowledge by virtue of a multiple choice questionnaire, a photographic material examination and a clinical problem-solving examination. Part 2 consists of an Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE). The aim of PLAB OSCE is to test candidates' clinical and communication skills in a number of controlled situations. The entire PLAB test can be taken at various test UK centres and the Part 1 may now be taken at centres in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Egypt. Part 2 has to be sat within the UK. The practical cost of sitting and passing the whole PLAB is estimated at around £3,000 (including flights) as parts of the examination can only be taken in the UK. What sort of GMC registration is a doctor who has passes the PLAB eligible for? A doctor who passes the PLAB is only eligible for limited registration, the key word being eligible. Once the candidate has passed the PLAB, they have to find a suitable post (of which there are relatively few) approved for suitable training. It should be noted that although eligible for registration having passed the PLAB test, the GMC does not grant registration to the doctor until a job offer has been secured in writing. Doctors are granted limited registration for an initial period of 12 months and thereafter, further periods of limited registration may be applied for until the maximum total period of 5 years has been reached. Please note that that registration or the eligibility to apply for registration does not in itself permit entry to the UK at all and immigration issues are not covered in this document. Can the doctor work as an RMO or GP once he or she has passed the PLAB? No, they are only to apply for specific supervised training posts within the NHS. Once they have practised in this approved NHS training post for a minimum period of one year, they may be able to apply for full registration, which will then allow them to apply for RMO jobs. Applying for and successfully passing the PLAB examination can take anything from 6-18 months and securing a suitable NHS post can take 6-12 months. What do I do if I want to register now? To register with the GMC, all foreign-qualified doctors must first pass an English Examination (IELTS academic test) which can be booked via your nearest British consulate. There is currently a 3 month waiting list for the IELTS test in some countries although the test can be organised within days in Europe. Doctors currently doing their internship or community service posts can only register in 2003 by providing proof of satisfactory internship experience; this proof must be in a specific format to comply with all GMC criteria for registration at the time of submission. Please note that doctors completing their internship or pre-registration house officer posts at the end of December 2003 can only submit their GMC applications between the 3rd and 31st December 2003 as they cannot prove satisfactory completion of internship before then. For doctors contracting to work through Cape Medical, we will handle and pay for the whole registration or restoration process for you (subject to contractual conditions). For these doctors, our GMC Application Pack (available by email only) lists the exact requirements for trouble-free registration.

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Merevale House, 27 Sansome Walk, Worcester, WR1 1NU United Kingdom
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