All doctors practising in the UK will need licence by 16 November
BMJ 2009; 338 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.b2363 (Published 11 June 2009) Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b2363
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The Editor:
I read with amazement your article by Clare Dyer on June 11, which
stated that all doctors would need a license to practise medicine in the
United Kingdom from November 1, 2009. In the island of Jamaica, a former
colony of Britain, and a developing country, licensing and biennial (at
least) registration and re-validation of medical doctors,nurses, and
pharmacists is a requirement for lawful practice since the early 2000's.
It is therefore surprising that the “motherland� from whence the
majority of our healthcare policies and protocols come, should be lagging
so far behind in licensing of physicians.
This process of re validation of medical doctors has served to improve the
quality of care offered to the general public, as periodically lists of
the currently licensed practitioners are published in the local
newspapers. Professionals are also required to display their current
license in their public place of practice. Interestingly, institutions
like hospitals, which have staff that have not re-registered, face hefty
daily fines if this breech is discovered by the regulating authority.
This innovation of re validation of doctors practicing in the UK
should have a similar effect of improving quality of care by building
public confidence in the medical services they receive; since each
provider should, as a part of the process, be required to demonstrate
continuing education and clinical competence using criteria that must be
regulated by their profession.
Yours sincerely
Joyette L Aiken MScN RM RN
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
It's only a survey
Today, I decided it was time I stopped ignoring the GMC letters
advising me to decide if I need a license to practice. It came as a
surprise on visiting the advertised web page to discover that I need do
nothing more as they had all the information required. Smelling a rat, I
phoned the GMC to be told that the default position is to give everyone
paid up with the GMC a license in November i.e. that is the default
position. Even doctors not currently in medical practice will be given a
license in November - presumably until revalidation comes into being. Not
replying to these almost threatening requests is fine.
I am angry that the numerous (and expensive) mailshots do not - anywhere -
suggest that there is a default position and that, effectively, this is
only a fact finding exercise to allow the GMC to (as the person on the
phone stated) make contact with their members, some of whom have not been
contacted for years (apart from aying their membership fee.
Does anyone else feel the same?
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests