All medical students to sit the same exam under GMC plans

The General Medical Council has launched a consultation on proposals for a single licensing exam for all doctors who wish to practise in the UK.1

If introduced, the national medical licensing assessment (MLA) will apply to all UK medical graduates. Currently, every one of the UK’s 32 medical schools has its own assessment system and there is no common standard.

Following the government’s announcement that it would increase the number of medical school places by 25%, the GMC said that it was a good time to introduce the new assessment.

Terence Stephenson, chair of the GMC, said, “Current arrangements do not allow us to assess whether UK graduates and overseas graduates have the same competence when they are seeking the same licence to practise in the UK.

“There is also evidence of disparity between medical schools in how prepared UK graduates are for practice. With a planned increase in medical students and new schools appearing, particularly in England, this is surely the moment to look at how we can improve assurance for patients that the standards at entry are consistent,” Stephenson said.

To ensure that the assessment will not mean that medical students are over-examined, the GMC has asked Neil Johnson, chair of the Medical Schools Council Assessment Alliance, to head an advisory reference group.

Under current European law it would be difficult to apply the assessment to doctors from the European Economic Area. However, following the UK’s decision to leave the EU, the GMC said that it might be possible to submit European doctors to the MLA.2

“This would strengthen the protection of patients and ensure fairness in the way all doctors are assessed for entry to the register, regardless of where they qualified in the world,” the GMC said.