Medical Act 1983

Part I — Preliminary

The General Medical Council

The General Medical Council

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• (1) There shall continue to be a body corporate known as the General Medical Council (in this Act referred to as “the General Council”) having the functions assigned to them by this Act.

• (1A) The over-arching objective of the General Council in exercising their functions is the protection of the public.

• (1B) The pursuit by the General Council of their over-arching objective involves the pursuit of the following objectives—

• (a) to protect, promote and maintain the health, safety and well-being of the public,

• (b) to promote and maintain public confidence in the medical profession, and

• (c) to promote and maintain proper professional standards and conduct for members of that profession.

• (2) The General Council shall be constituted as provided for by order of the Privy Council, subject to Part 1 of Schedule 1 to this Act.

• (3) The General Council shall have the following committees—

• (a) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (b) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (c) one or more Registration Panels,

• (d) one or more Registration Appeals Panels,

• (e) the Investigation Committee,

• (f) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (g) the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (“the MPTS”),

• (h) one or more Medical Practitioners Tribunals,

• (i) one or more Interim Orders Tribunals,

constituted in accordance with Part III of Schedule 1 to this Act and having the functions assigned to them by or under this Act.

• (3A) The committees of the General Council specified in ...subsection (3) above are referred to in this Act as “the statutory committees”.

• (4) Schedule 1 to this Act shall have effect with respect to the General Council, its branch councils and committees, its proceedings, its officers and its accounts.

Registration of medical practitioners

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• (1) There shall continue to be kept by the registrar of the General Council (in this Act referred to as “the Registrar”) a register of medical practitioners registered under this Act containing the names of those registered and the qualifications they are entitled to have registered under this Act.

• (2) The register referred to is “the register of medical practitioners” consisting of the following lists—

• (a) the principal list,

• (aa) if anyone is registered under section 18A, the emergency powers doctors list, and

• (b) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (c) the visiting overseas doctors list, ...

• (d) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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• (3) Medical practitioners shall be registered as fully registered medical practitioners or provisionally ... as provided in Parts II and III of this Act and in the appropriate list of the register of medical practitioners ... as provided in Part IV of this Act.

• (4) Section 35C(2)(da) (the necessary knowledge of English) shall not apply in determining whether a person’s fitness to practise is impaired for the purposes of registration under this Act.

Part II — Medical Education and Registration: Persons Qualifying in the United Kingdom and Elsewhere in the EEC.

Registration by virtue of primary United Kingdom or primary European qualifications

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• (1) Subject to the provisions of this Act any person whose fitness to practise is not impaired and who—

• (a) holds one or more primary United Kingdom qualifications and has satisfactorily completed an acceptable programme for provisionally registered doctors; or

• (b) being a national of any relevant European State, holds one or more primary European qualifications and has made an application, before IP completion day, for registration under this paragraph or is provisionally registered under section 15A,

is entitled to be registered under this section as a fully registered medical practitioner.

• (2) Any person who—

• (a) is not a national of a relevant European State; but

• (b) is, by virtue of an enforceable EU right, entitled to be treated, for the purposes of access to and pursuit of the medical profession, no less favourably than a national of a relevant European State,

shall be treated for the purposes of subsection (1)(b) above as if he were such a national.

• (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Qualifying examinations and primary United Kingdom qualifications

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• (1) Subject to the provisions of this Part of this Act, a qualifying examination for the purposes of this Part of this Act is an examination held for the purpose of granting one or more primary United Kingdom qualifications by any one of the bodies or combinations of bodies in the United Kingdom which are included in a list maintained by the General Council of the bodies and combinations of bodies entitled to hold such examinations.

• (1A) The General Council may from time to time amend the list.

• (1B) The list maintained under subsection (1) shall be published in such manner as the General Council see fit.

• (1C) The General Council shall only include in the list maintained under subsection (1) bodies or combinations of bodies that require from candidates at examinations a standard of proficiency that conforms to the prescribed standard of proficiency.

• (1D) If the General Council have formed the provisional opinion that a body or combination of bodies included in the list maintained under subsection (1) should be removed from the list, they shall notify that opinion in writing to the body or combination of bodies concerned and shall allow them a reasonable opportunity to respond before determining whether or not to remove the body or combination of bodies from the list.

• (3) In this Act “primary United Kingdom qualification” means any of the following qualifications, namely—

• (a) the degree of bachelor of medicine or bachelor of surgery granted by a body or combination of bodies included in the list maintained under subsection (1);

• (b) licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians of London or the Royal College of Surgeons of England or the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh or the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh or the Royal College (formerly Royal Faculty) of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow;

• (c) membership of the Royal College of Surgeons of England granted before the coming into force of section 1 of the Medical Qualifications (Amendment) Act 1991;

• (d) licentiate in medicine and surgery of the Society of Apothecaries of London.

• (4) Any two or more of the bodies and combinations of bodies included in the list maintained under subsection (1) may, with the approval and under the directions of the General Council, unite or co-operate in conducting examinations held for the purpose of granting primary United Kingdom qualifications.

• (4A) If a body or combination of bodies is removed from the list maintained under subsection (1), primary United Kingdom qualifications granted by that body or combination of bodies during the period in respect of which it was on the list are still to be considered primary United Kingdom qualifications after that removal.

• (5) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

General functions of the Education Committee in relation to medical education in the United Kingdom

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• (1) The General Council shall have the general function of promoting high standards of medical education and co-ordinating all stages of medical education.

• (2) For the purpose of discharging that function the General Council shall—

• (a) determine the extent of the knowledge and skill which is to be required for the granting of primary United Kingdom qualifications and secure that the instruction given in or under the direction of bodies or combinations of bodies in the United Kingdom to persons studying for such qualifications is sufficient to equip them with knowledge and skill of that extent;

• (b) determine the standard of proficiency which is to be required from candidates at qualifying examinations and secure the maintenance of that standard; and

• (c) discharge their functions under section 10A below in respect of programmes for provisionally registered doctors.

• (2A) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (2B) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (3) Determinations of the General Council under subsection (2)(a) or (b) above shall be published in such manner as they see fit.

• (3A) Such determinations—

• (a) are binding on bodies or combinations of bodies concerned with medical education as regards the matters to which they relate; and

• (b) accordingly, those bodies or combinations of bodies must act in accordance with them as regards the matters to which they relate.

• (4) In this Act—

• . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• “the prescribed knowledge and skill” means knowledge and skill of the extent for the time being determined under subsection (2)(a) above and set out in determinations published under subsection (3) above;

• “the prescribed standard of proficiency” means the standard of proficiency for the time being determined under subsection (2)(b) above and set out in determinations published under subsection (3) above;

• . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Further powers of the Education Committee

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• (1) A body or combination of bodies in the United Kingdom granting any primary United Kingdom qualification or any additional qualification for the time being registrable under section 16 below shall from time to time, when so required by the General Council, furnish the General Council with such information as the General Council may require as to—

• (a) the courses of study and examinations to be gone through in order to obtain the qualification;

• (b) the ages at which such courses of study and examinations are required to be gone through;

• (c) the age at which the qualification is granted; and

• (d) generally the requisites for obtaining the qualification.

• (2) For the purpose of securing the maintenance of the prescribed standard of proficiency the General Council may appoint such number of inspectors as they may determine, and the inspectors shall attend, as the General Council may direct, all or any of the qualifying examinations held by any body or combination of bodies included in the list maintained under section 4(1).

• (3) Any person deputed for the purpose by the General Council may attend and be present at any examination held in the United Kingdom which has to be gone through in order to obtain a primary United Kingdom qualification or any additional qualification for the time being registrable under section 16 below.

• (4) Inspectors appointed under subsection (2) above shall not interfere with the conduct of any examination, but it shall be their duty to report to the General Council their opinion as to the sufficiency of every examination which they attend, and any other matters relating to such examinations which the General Council may require them to report.

• (5) The General Council shall forward a copy of every report of the inspectors to the body or each of the bodies who held the examination to which the report relates....

Power to appoint visitors of medical schools

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• (1) The General Council may appoint persons to visit... places where instruction is given to medical students under the direction of any body or combination of bodies included in the list maintained under section 4(1).

• (2) It shall be the duty of visitors appointed under subsection (1) above to report to the General Council as to the sufficiency of the instruction given in the places which they visit and as to any other matters relating to the instruction which may be specified by the General Council either generally or in any particular case; but no visitor shall interfere with the giving of any instruction.

• (3) On the receipt of any report of a visitor under subsection (2) above the General Council shall send a copy of the report to the body or combination of bodies under whose direction the instruction is given, and on the receipt of the copy that body or combination of bodies may, within such period of not less than one month as the General Council may have specified at the time they sent the copy of the report, make to the General Council observations on the report or objections to it.

• (4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Power to add further qualifying examinations

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Powers of Privy Council where standards not maintained

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Experience required for full registration by virtue of primary United Kingdom qualifications

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Provisions supplementary to s. 10, etc.

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Special provisions as to employment in health centres

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Power to appoint visitors of approved hospitals

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Alternative requirements as to experience in certain cases

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• (1) On an application made to them by a person to whom this section applies, the General Council may direct that, as an alternative to the satisfactory completion of an acceptable programme for provisionally registered doctors, it shall be sufficient for the applicant to satisfy the General Council that, in the course of or as an adjunct to practice in the United Kingdom or elsewhere, he has undergone medical training and acquired clinical experience, over a period acceptable to the General Council, which has provided him with a foundation for future practice as a fully registered medical practitioner which is at least as good as the foundation provided by an acceptable programme for provisionally registered doctors.

• (2) This section applies to any person who claims registration under section 3 above and—

• (a) claims such registration by virtue of a qualification granted before 1st January 1953; or

• (b) is the holder of a primary United Kingdom qualification and also of a qualification granted outside the United Kingdom which is recognised by the General Council for the purposes of this section as furnishing a sufficient guarantee of the possession of knowledge and skill corresponding with the prescribed knowledge and skill.

• (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (4) Subsection (5) applies if—

• (a) a person within subsection (2)(b) who is a national of a relevant European State makes an application under subsection (1) in connection with an application for registration under section 3(1)(a) made before IP completion day; and

• (b) the person has carried out a professional traineeship, all or part of which was carried out in a third country.

• (5) The General Council must take the professional traineeship into account in exercising its functions under subsection (1).

• (6) The General Council must publish guidelines on the organisation and recognition of professional traineeships carried out in third countries (including, in particular, guidelines on the role of the supervisor of the professional traineeship).

• (7) Any person who—

• (a) is not a national of a relevant European State; but

• (b) is, by virtue of any enforceable EU right, entitled to be treated, for the purposes of access to and the practice of the medical profession, no less favourably than a national of such a State,

must be treated for the purposes of subsections (4) and (5) as if the person were such a national.

Provisional registration

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• (1) This section shall have effect for enabling persons wishing to complete an acceptable programme for provisionally registered doctors to participate in such a programme.

• (2) A person shall be entitled to be registered provisionally under this section if—

• (a) he has not satisfactorily completed an acceptable programme for provisionally registered doctors; but

• (b) apart from that he would be entitled to be registered under section 3 above.

• (3) A person provisionally registered under this section shall be deemed to be registered under section 3 above as a fully registered medical practitioner so far as is necessary to enable him to participate in an acceptable programme for provisionally registered doctors but not further.

Registration of qualifications

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• (1) A person registered under section 3, 14A, 15 or 15A above or 18A below shall be entitled to have registered any primary United Kingdom qualification or qualifications or primary European qualification or qualifications which he holds when he is so registered and also—

• (a) any other primary United Kingdom qualification or qualification specified in Annex V, point 5.1.1 of the Directive (evidence of formal qualifications in basic medical training) which he obtains after registration;

• (b) subject to subsection (3) below, any additional qualification which the General Council determine ought to be registrable by virtue of this paragraph which he holds when he is registered or obtains thereafter;

• (c) any . . . qualification which is for the time being registrable by virtue of section 26(1)(b) below which he holds when he is registered or obtains thereafter.

• (2) In this Act “additional qualification” means any qualification granted in a relevant European State other than ... a qualification specified in Annex V, point 5.1.1 of the Directive (evidence of formal qualifications in basic medical training).