List of registered medical practitioners is the unique national database of doctors registered and licensed to practice medicine in the UK. The medical register is intended to provide information about individual doctors practising in the UK. The information can help users make decisions about who to trust with their care or who to employ or contract with. The General Medical Council (GMC) have a legal duty to include certain information in the published register, this includes a doctor’s name, registered qualifications, whether or not they hold a license to practice and the details of any GP or specialist register entry they may hold.
The GMC wants to improve the register so it provides more and better information and is easier to use. To do this the GMC are seeking feedback on how the register can become more open, relevant and useful. We will be responding this consultation and will use your answers to inform the Patients Associations response.
The GMC believes the most effective way to develop the register is to create two separate tiers of information. One section would contain information that the GMC must provide by law for example name, qualification and license status. The second tier would contain information that a doctor has voluntarily offered for inclusion on the register. It could include for example scope of practice, languages spoken, declaration of competing professional interests and higher qualifications.
The benefits of Tier 2 data will enable the register to provide a much richer description of a doctor’s professional life than is currently possible. As the additional information would be provided voluntarily, there would be no obligation on those who do not wish to provide this sort of information. The disadvantage of this model is that initially at least, not all doctors will wish to provide Tier 2 information for their register entry. There would, therefore, be some inconsistency in the information available for those using the register.
