Licence to practice now required by all doctors

Published on Monday 16 November 2009 19:38

ALL doctors in Scotland who want to practice medicine will require a licence to allow them to continue seeing patients.

The move is part of series of measures to ensure GPs are subject to regular checks. From now on all doctors in the UK must be registered with the General Medical Council and also have a licence to practice. In Scotland, 18,867 doctors now have a licence to practice.

The move is the biggest change in medical regulation since the first medical register was published 150 years ago.

Professor Peter Rubin, chair of the GMC, said: "This is a major milestone towards the introduction of revalidation, a process by which doctors will have to regularly demonstrate to the GMC that they are up to date and fit to practice."

Dr Harry Burns, Chief Medical Officer for Scotland, said:

"The introduction of a licence is a clear sign of the intent of the profession to demonstrate their commitment to excellence."

Around 5 per cent of GMC registered doctors have not applied for a licence, perhaps because they are academics or retired.