Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that Doctors who have had their license to practice removed overseas are unable to practice in the UK.

The General Medical Council (GMC) is the independent regulator of all medical doctors, physician assistants, and physician assistants in anaesthesia, still legally known as anaesthesia associates and physician associates, practising in the United Kingdom. The GMC is very clear that all doctors applying for registration, as well as current registrants, must promptly inform the GMC if any professional or medical regulatory body in the world makes a finding against their registration. The GMC is committed to taking swift action where a doctor has failed to declare this information.

When doctors who have been working overseas apply for registration with the GMC, the GMC seeks a Certificate of Good Standing from the regulator of every country where the doctor has practised in the previous five years. This shows whether the doctor is registered with the relevant regulator and if there are any restrictions or sanctions on their practice. The GMC is also implementing additional assurance measures, which include checks via the Federation of State Medical Boards’ Physician Data Centre in the United States.

For doctors already registered, the GMC routinely receives information from overseas regulators, including through the Physician Information Exchange. The GMC has written again to European regulators asking that they proactively share information about registrants.