Annex
SINGLE FORM OF REGISTRATION FOR OVERSEAS
QUALIFIED DOCTORS
POSITION STATEMENT: MAY 1998
BACKGROUND
1. Part III of the Medical Act 1983 draws
a distinction between, on the one hand, the recognition of qualifications
granted outside the UK for the purpose of provisional and full
registration (sections 19-21 of the Medical Act); and, on the
other, the acceptance of such qualifications for limited registration
purposes (section 22 of the Act). An overseas qualification may
be recognised for the purpose of full and provisional registration
provided that the GMC is satisfied that it is of an equivalent
standard to qualifications awarded in the UK. The 22 qualifications
currently recognised under section 19 are listed in paragraph
11.
2. It has for several years been the GMC's
official policy to secure the legislative changes necessary to
replace the existing two-tier system of registration with a single
form of registration for all overseas qualified doctors. Parliamentary
time has not, however, so far been made available to debate the
proposals.
3. The proposed single form of registration—referred
to as "training registration"—would be similar
in effect to limited registration in that it would enable those
who held it to work in training posts in the UK and there would
be a requirement for applicants to satisfy us of their proficiency
in English and of their professional knowledge and skill.
REASONS FOR
PROPOSING A
SINGLE FORM
OF REGISTRATION
4. It is increasingly difficult for the
GMC to justify a two-tier system of registration which is widely
perceived as unfair in that it fails to ensure equal treatment
for all doctors who qualified outside the European Economic Area
(EEA) and who do not benefit from the provisions relating to EEA
nationality. The present arrangement is cumbersome to administer,
confusing, and irrelevant to medical practice in the UK.
5. Under the new Immigration Rules—which
came into force on 1 April 1997—all overseas qualified doctors
coming to the UK without right of residence are in general restricted
to work in the hospital training grades of senior house officer
and visiting specialist registrar (SpR). This is irrespective
of whether the doctor is eligible for full or limited registration.
6. Review of the current arrangements for
registration under sections 19-21 of the Medical Act is also appropriate
in light of the outcome of the review of the basis on which limited
registration is granted. The GMC has already accepted in relation
to limited registration the impossibility of maintaining up-to-date
information on systems of medical education overseas. Instead,
arrangements have been introduced to ensure that at the point
of being granted limited registration doctors will have demonstrated,
on an individual basis, their suitability for training.
7. The same approach should also apply to
overseas qualifications currently recognised under section 19
of the Medical Act since it is anomalous to retain a system where
doctors' suitability for registration is assessed on the basis
of where they obtained their primary qualification.
8. The proposal to introduce a single form
of registration for overseas qualified doctors is broadly similar
to the measures taken by many countries whose qualifications are
currently recognised to update their registration systems—which
depended upon long-established systems of reciprocity—with
new systems which take greater account of their own needs and
which eliminate any special provision for UK qualified doctors.
It is in no sense a retaliatory measure; nor does it imply any
deterioration in the standards of qualifications currently recognised.
9. Our aim is to introduce a more equitable
arrangement which focuses on the individual doctor's suitability,
at the time of registration, to undertake training posts in the
UK. Training registration would cover the range of employment
which is open to overseas qualified doctors under the new Immigration
Rules and, if they have sponsored exemption from the PLAB test,
it would ensure that they participate in a planned programme of
posts and training.
RETENTION OF
A MECHANISM
FOR OBTAINING
FULL REGISTRATION
10. Overseas qualified doctors would continue
to be eligible to proceed from training to full registration when
they had demonstrated that they met the necessary standard. A
doctor who wished to spend a short period in the UK to provide
specialist services could apply for registration as a visiting
overseas doctor. There would also be a mechanism in place for
granting full registration to overseas qualified doctors who are
eligible for the inclusion of their names in the specialist register.
RECOGNISED OVERSEAS
PRIMARY MEDICAL
QUALIFICATIONS
11. The 22 qualifications currently recognised
for full and provisional registration under section 19 are listed
below:
Australia
— MB BS University of Adelaide
— BM BS Flinders University of South Australia
— MB BS University of Melbourne
— MB BS Monash University, Victoria
— B Med University of Newcastle, New South
Wales
— MB BS University of New South Wales
— MB BS University of Queensland
— MB BS University of Sydney
— MB BS University of Tasmania
— MB BS University of Western Australia
Hong Kong
Malaysia
— MB BS University of Malaya[9]
New Zealand
Singapore
— MB BS National University of Singapore
South Africa
— MB ChB University of Cape Town
— MB ChB University of Natal
— MB ChB University of the Orange Free
State
— MB ChB University of Pretoria
— MB ChB University of Stellenbosch
— MB BCh University of the Witwatersrand
West Indies
— MB BS University of the West Indies
9 The degrees of MB BS awarded by the University of
Malaya in Kuala Lumpur are recognised for full and provisional
registration only when granted on or before 31 December 1989.
Those degrees when granted from 1 January 1990 are accepted for
limited registration only. Back
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