On 31 December, the Brexit transition period will come to an end. The changes that will come into effect may impact on doctors that are considering working in the UK, or in the EU/EEA, in the future.
Doctors that already have a full or provisional General Medical Council (GMC) registration will continue to practice as they do now and their registration will not be impacted. Those doctors who are applying to join the medical register won’t be affected by the changes that come into effect on 1 January as long as the application is complete and has been submitted to the GMC. Those doctors who have temporary or occasional registration with the GMC will be contacted directly by the GMC to discuss the options available to them.
After 1 January, the process of joining the GMC medical register will be based on doctor’s qualifications and not on their nationality, and doctors with UK qualifications wishing to work in the European Economic Area will no longer have an automatic recognition of their professional qualification; they will need to apply to relevant medical regulator to find out how they can register.
There won’t be any changes to how non EU/EEA doctors register to join the GMC medical register – they will continue to join via the GMC’s overseas routes as they do now.
The GMC will be publishing a full overview of the routes to registration on 1 January and the College will share that information with members as soon as it become available.
The College understands that this is an anxious time for many members waiting to see what the full impact of Brexit will mean for their personal and professional lives. We continue to work with the GMC and other key stakeholders to advocate for the needs of psychiatrists and the mental health workforce.
This article was featured in our December 2020 eNewsletter.
For further information, please contact:
- Email: press@rcpsych.ac.uk
- Twitter: @rcpsych
- Out-of-hours contact number: 07860 755896