Clarity needed for European doctors post-Brexit GMC warns
Clarity needed for European doctors post-Brexit, GMC warns
The General Medical Council (GMC) has warned that doctors from the European Economic Area (EEA) are growing increasingly nervous about the post-Brexit landscape.
The doctors' regulator, which manages the medical register, has said that this important group of doctors needs swift confirmation on how they will be able to join the UK medical register.
A report on doctors from the EEA, published by the GMC today, warns that while the UK is still seen as an attractive place to work - the number of EEA doctors remaining on and joining the medical register has stayed fairly constant since the referendum - this could change rapidly depending on the outcome of Brexit negotiations.
"As the UK medical regulator we are doing all that we can to prepare for the various scenarios that we may face in March 2019, while we await the outcome of the negotiations and confirmation from Government on how doctors with qualifications from the EEA will be able to join the UK medical register."
Charlie Massey
There are currently almost 22,000 EEA doctors on the UK medical register, and around 2,000 join the register for the first time every year. The top five nationalities on the medical register are Republic of Ireland, Greece, Romania, Italy and Germany.
The specialties of ophthalmology and surgery are particularly reliant on doctors with EEA qualification, who make up 24% and 18% of the workforce respectively.
The contribution of EEA doctors to the NHS is also particularly significant in remote and rural areas in all four UK countries.
The status of doctors already registered with the UK is guaranteed. But it is unclear whether current GMC registration arrangements for EEA doctors, which are based on the principle of mutual recognition of doctors' qualifications and enables the GMC to grant registration very quickly, will continue after the UK leaves the EU in March 2019.
The GMC's report says: 'Anecdotal evidence from our own frontline engagement, and insight from other organisations such as the British Medical Association and regulators from other European countries, suggests that EEA doctors are growing increasingly nervous about the post-Brexit landscape.'
Charlie Massey, Chief Executive of the GMC, said:
'As the UK medical regulator we are doing all that we can to prepare for the various scenarios that we may face in March 2019, while we await the outcome of the negotiations and confirmation from Government on how doctors with qualifications from the EEA will be able to join the UK medical register.
'What is clear is that we continue to value this important cohort of EEA qualified doctors and must work to ensure that the current uncertainty does not deter them from coming to the UK and contributing to our NHS.'
We have defined EEA doctors as those who gained their PMQ from a medical school in the EEA or Switzerland but not the UK. It's important to note that the EEA is not the same thing as the European Union. The EEA includes all of the EU countries plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. Although Switzerland is not a member of the EEA, it is a member of single market agreements and Swiss nationals have the same right to live and work in the UK as other EEA nationals.
You can contact our Press Office team on 020 7189 5454. Or by email at press@gmc-uk.org.
The General Medical Council (GMC) works to protect the public by setting, upholding and raising the standards of medical education and practice across the UK.
It does this by:
setting the standards doctors must follow, making sure they continue to meet these standards throughout their careers
deciding which doctors are qualified to work here, and overseeing UK medical education and training
taking action if a doctor is putting the safety of patients, or the public's confidence in doctors, at risk.
The GMC is independent of government and the medical profession, and accountable to the UK Parliament.
It is in the public interest to have healthcare systems in the UK, both public and private, where doctors practise to the highest ethical and professional standards to provide the best possible, safe medical care.