§ Mr. CameronTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if it is mandatory for general practitioners from the Commonwealth coming to the UK to spend six months as a registrar; and if he will make a statement. [57963]
§ Mr. HuttonThere is no mandatory requirement in law for general practitioners coming to this country from the Commonwealth to spend time in training as a general practitioner registrar.
Doctors wanting to practise as a GP in the United Kingdom must meet the standard of being "suitably experienced" required by the NHS Act 1977. The joint committee on postgraduate training for general practice (JCPTGP), currently has the responsibility of assessing incoming doctors to see if they are in fact "suitably experienced" and issuing a certificate to those who are. We are aware that the JCPTGP invariably requires doctors from the Commonwealth to undertake training in the UK before issuing a certificate.
We announced in the NHS Plan that we would replace the JCPTGP and the specialist training authority, the parallel body for hospital doctors, with a new body to be known as the postgraduate medical education and training board. We will also introduce for the first time a GP 684W register, and it will become a requirement to be registered, instead of being "suitably experienced", before practising as a GP in the National Health Service in the UK.