GMC Registration Law
GMC Registration Law for Overseas Doctors
Doctors Defence Service has specialist lawyers who deal with overseas applications for UK GMC registration and GMC licences. Registration applications can be complicated affairs and many doctors who make applications for registration will be unsuccessful because of their failure to present their evidence in a way that demonstrates that they qualify for registration. The time it takes to obtain GMC registration can be very frustrating for doctors; the process is likely to take many months, especially if a doctor also has to go through the appeal process as well.
Whether a doctor is eligible for GMC registration will be dependent on many factors, which include the doctor’s country or birth, the country where the doctor studied, their marital status (if their spouse an EU citizen), their current qualifications and specialisation, their current country of residence, and whether the EU and UK regulations apply to a particular applicant.
Not all doctors have to sit the Professional and Linguistic Assessment Board (PLABs) exams. Our registration law specialist lawyers will advise you on the type of evidence you will need to obtain or compile in order to make a strong initial application to the GMC for UK registration to practise as a registered medical practitioner. Our lawyers can also advise you on the evidence you will need to obtain and submit should you choose to appeal a GMC decision to refuse registration.
Our lawyers can often advise doctors on whether there is a good prospect of success of their acquiring registration or whether their current application is likely to be futile. Not all applicants will be successful and it may be necessary to go the PLAB route in the alternative, or otherwise obtain further qualifications, skills and suitable experience to be able to make a further application for UK GMC registration in the future.
Doctors Defence Service lawyers will assist you with making written and oral submissions, where appropriate. Submitting the best evidence will greatly enhance a doctor’s prospects of success and our lawyers will scrutinise the evidence that each doctor has available to them and assist the doctor in presenting it in a manner that may assist them.
Registration applications should be made with full consideration of the regulatory criteria that apply. Our lawyers will advise doctors on the strength of their case and whether there may be alternatives if an application is unsuccessful.
Where registration is granted there is also now a need for a licence to practice. The application for a licence is part of the same process for applications.
Further, many doctors are initially granted temporary or conditional registration, with a requirement that they work a year in a supervised position, in a location where there is good clinical governance and supervision of their work, to ensure that the doctor has the necessary support of experienced UK doctors who are familiar with the culture of healthcare in the UK and the clinical protocols that are in place in the UK. The GMC maintains a list of healthcare providers deemed suitable to provide such supervised placements.
Call us on 0800 10 88 739 to speak in confidence and without obligation about your GMC registration and GMC licence application.