Edastuskiri

Dear colleagues, 

Today, in the UK, The Times published an article about doctors who are registered in the UK and have sanctions or alleged criminal convictions from other countries.

A more detailed piece about doctors with regulatory / criminal sanctions moving across jurisdictions worldwide has also been published on the website of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project. There is also an article on the Follow the Money website. Both articles mention the EU’s IMI information sharing tool and contain examples of over 100 doctors from across the EU. 

We understand that these articles are three of several pieces published by media in different countries across the world about individual doctors and regulatory approaches to information sharing.  

The GMC’s latest statement in response to The Times article is below. This explains the steps with take to check doctors’ fitness to practice information and the actions we take to share information with other jurisdictions.  

If there has been similar coverage in your country, we would be grateful if you could share it with us together with any statement you have issued to the press.

We plan to add this issue to the agenda of the next ENMCA meeting.  

Many thanks, 

Nicola

Nicola While

Strategic Engagement Manager

General Medical Council

Email: [email protected]

Telephone: +44 7825 144632

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A spokesperson for the General Medical Council, said: 
 

‘We take our role protecting patients extremely seriously. 

‘We were instrumental in establishing the EU’s fitness-to-practise information-sharing system in 2013, and although Brexit ended our access, we continue to proactively share information extensively with regulators overseas, including in the EU, where we have taken action against doctors registered with us.  
 
‘We also routinely receive information from overseas regulators including by way of the Physician Information Exchange which has been developed by the International Association of Medical Regulatory Authorities (IAMRA). We also always actively seek information from overseas regulators when doctors who have been working in other countries apply to register with us.  

‘Doctors wishing to gain registration should also be under no illusion about their duty and responsibility to tell us about anything that might affect their ability to practise safely in the UK - our professional guidance makes this very clear. 

‘We will continue to review each case carefully and thoroughly and, where doctors are registered with us, decide what action we might need to take.’