12.06.15
GMC developing plans for single UK medical licensing assessment
Every doctor who wants to practise in the UK will have to pass the same assessment under new plans being developed by the General Medical Council.
The GMC Council has approved a plan to work with partners to develop a unified assessment to replace the current Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board test.
The new assessment has a working title of the United Kingdom Medical Licensing Assessment (UKMLA). It would be taken by UK medical graduates as well as international graduates.
Professor Terence Stephenson, chair of the GMC, said: “Medicine is an increasingly mobile profession and we must have systems in place which not only make sure that UK-trained graduates meet the required standards but that all doctors practising here have been examined and evaluated to the same high level.
“We believe it would be fairer and more reassuring for the public for there to be a standard for entry to the register that everyone can rely on. Over time we are confident that the UKMLA will help to drive up standards and that it could become an international benchmark test for entry to medicine.
“Our aspiration is that this assessment should apply to any doctor joining the medical register.”
A full public consultation on the proposals is to take place before UKMLA is introduced.
Testing of the new system is not expected to begin until 2018, and will not go live until 2021. The UKLMA should not have any impact on the annual retention fee, said the GMC.
“We do not want to create a one-size-fits-all system of undergraduate education – the diversity of our current medical schools can and should be cherished - but we do think all those becoming doctors in the UK should have demonstrated that they have the skills and competence to practise here and have all passed the same assessment before being admitted to the register with a licence to practise,” Prof Stephenson continued.
“There is much to discuss and we are conscious that there is an enormous amount of detail still to be worked up. But we are determined to work with our partners to find a way forward that is both workable and puts patient confidence and safety first.
“We will now begin a second phase of work, engaging extensively with partners and groups affected, and with a range of expert advisers to help us identify the format, timing and content of the UKMLA.”
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