The U.K Practice

Introduction

Registration and licensing arrangements for
International Medical Graduates (IMGs)
in the UK

Before practising in the UK, Registration and Licensing arrangements for graduates are different, depending 1st on the medical school where you obtained primary qualification and 2nd on your nationality.

All registrations and licenses are awarded by the General Medical Council:

To practise medicine in the UK all doctors need to be both registered and hold a licence to practise. This registration has to be full for any unsupervised medical practice in the NHS or private practice.

Once you hold full registration, you need to be entered onto the GP Register or Specialist Register, both registers maintained by the GMC:

All doctors working in general practice in the health service in the UK - other than doctors in training such as GP Registrars - are required to be on the GP Register.

Licensing is the first new step towards the introduction of revalidation, which is the process by which licensed doctors will demonstrate to the GMC that they remain up to date and fit to practise.

In addition all International Medical Graduates will be required to demonstrate their medical knowledge and skills, knowledge of English, and fitness to practise:

Before obtaining registration previous to practising in the UK, some of these International Medical Graduates (IMGs) having an acceptable primary medical qualification (PMQ) are required to take the Professional and Linguistic Assessment Board (PLAB) test.

Applicable to:

• all IMGs who have not completed an internship
• and even to IMGs who have completed an internship overseas unless they are:
  - eligible for entry onto the Specialist or GP Registers
  - or are in Possession of an acceptable postgraduate qualification
  - or have been selected for postgraduate training AND have obtained sponsorship from a GMC approved sponsor.

Moreover, apart from Nationals of Member States of the European Economic Area (EEA), Swiss national, or any individual with European Community rights, International Medical Graduates (IMGs) are accordingly required to obtain satisfactory scores in each of the four modules (speaking, listening, writing and reading) of the academic version of theInternational English Language Testing System (IELTS) test.

Courtesy: www.talkingmedicine.com