Apply for Medical Jobs in the UK

Register with the GMC for Medical Locums

GMC Registration

You need to register with the GMC if you want to apply for medical jobs in the UK. The instances where applicants for medical jobs require registration include:

• When you plan to apply for medical jobs on doctor’s level in the National Health Service also known as the NHS.
• When you will fill a position where you will prescribe drugs or sell such drugs as restricted by the Law.
• When applying for a doctor’s position in the private health sector.
• When you will be applying for a position where you will sign certificates such as death or medical certificates.

Who is eligible for GMC registration?

It will depend upon your nationality and also the country and institution where you obtained your specific qualifications. In addition the extent of your experience will be taken into account:

• Doctors that have obtained their qualifications from a UK tertiary medical institution qualify for full GMC registration.
• Doctors that are nationals of an EEA Member State or who have EC rights can apply for full registration. They also qualify for provisional registration if they have completed a specific period of post-graduate education.
• International Medical Graduates (IMG’s).
• Doctors that have operated in medical jobs in another EEA Member State who qualified in other countries.
• Doctors who have qualified in West Indies, South Africa, New Zealand or Singapore can apply for full registration if they had provisional registration before 2004.
• Doctors from Australia and Hong Kong.
• Doctors from Malaysia provided that their degrees were awarded by the University of Malaysia before 2004.

Levels of registration at the GMC before you can apply for certain medical jobs in the UK include:

• Provisional
• Full
• Specialist
• GP
• Temporary full registration

Please visit the GMC website for full information on the most appropriate route for registration. A short overview of provisional, full registration, specialist, and GP registration is provided below. Before you apply for any of the medical jobs advertised on our site, make sure that you also are familiar with the process of registration with the GMC.

Provisional Registration

Doctors who have completed the provisional registration can apply for medical jobs on Foundation I level at hospitals and facilities which have been approved for F1 service rendering. The following doctors qualify:

• UK doctors who have completed their medical education at one of the United Kingdom universities as acknowledged by the Medical Act of 1983.
• Doctors with EC rights that have qualified at Swiss or EEA medical education facilities and who are also EEA nationals as well as those who have obtained their qualifications outside Switzerland and the EEA.
• International medical graduates who have passed the PLAB assessment and have the primary medical training according to the required standards, but who have not yet completed their internships.

Full Registration

If doctors want to apply for doctor jobs where they will operate unsupervised in private practice or the NHS they must complete the full registration. Any doctor that has worked for a period without supervision and has done so while being provisionally registered can apply for full registration. Doctors from other countries can however, apply for full registration without having to go the above route in the UK including:

• Doctors that have graduated from Swiss or EEA medical schools and have EC rights as well as being Swiss and EEA nationals as well as those who have qualified outside Switzerland and the EEA.
• Medical graduates that fall in the IMG category and who have completed their internships.
• It should be noted that certain conditions apply for the above. The conditions are stipulated at the GMC website.

Specialist Register

To apply for substantive consultant medical jobs in the UK, doctors must be in the specialist register of the GMC. There are exceptions which can be viewed at the GMC website.

GP Register

Any doctor that operates as a GP in the NHS must have GP registration unless the doctor is still in training as a GP registrar.

The registration process

Send all the required documents by registered post to the address indicated by GMC. Please note that all documents must be in English. If not, provide a translation copy done by a professional translator. Apart from documents requested an identity check will be performed. You can obtain the full information about the identity check at their website. Non-EEA nationals must pass an International English Language Test.

Before commencing in any doctor jobs available in the UK, make sure that you have completed the registration according to the required route. You will go through an identity check, may need to complete and pass the PLAB test, must provide proof of qualifications, and have a good reputation in the industry. Since the requirements differ according to the required route, it is recommended that you read through the GMC requirements section first before applying for registration. Verify that registration has been completed and the required status granted before commencing with any of the potential medical jobs.