The General Medical Council is issuing new guidance with information about the licence to practise, which will be introduced in the autumn of next year.
A leaflet – Licensing and you: Information for registered doctors – is being sent to all doctors on the medical register with the aim of providing information about the licence to practise and its impact on the profession.
From next autumn, a doctor wanting to practise medicine in the UK must be a licensed medical practitioner and hold both registration and a licence to practise with the GMC. A doctor wanting to practise overseas will not need to hold a licence for the period they are out of the UK.
The leaflet says that doctors will need a licence to practise to:
- hold a position as a doctor in the NHS or independent sector, on a permanent or locum basis
- write prescriptions, sign death certificates , or exercise any of the other legal privileges currently reserved for registered medical practitioners
- if their employer or those who contract their services or another party require them to hold a licence.
GMC president Sir Graeme Catto, said: “This change in medical regulation next year will have important implications for doctors, employers and patients. It will be the first step towards the introduction of revalidation and this will, in the future, give patients regular assurance that their doctors are up to date and fit to practise.
“The GMC will implement licensing next autumn. Our forthcoming letter and leaflet to doctors is the start of a continuing campaign to prepare them for this change.”