UK Docs to Undergo Checks for Testing Skills and Competence

More than 220,000 doctors will go through annual appraisals and five year checks of their skills and competency though it will take at least four years for the first round of checks to be completed, it has emerged.

The Revalidation regulation was announced by Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt who said that the vast majority of doctors do a brilliant job but added that a government survey, which revealed serious concerns over 0.7 percent of doctors, was a significant matter.

Hunt said that if the doctors do not satisfy the General Medical Council (GMC) standards, then they will not be allowed to practice medicine.

"We want to have the best survival rates in Europe for the major killer diseases. Doctors save lives every day and making sure they are up to speed with the latest treatments and technologies will help them save even more. This is why a proper system of revalidation is so important. At the end of the day if the GMC is not satisfied that someone is up to speed then, yes, they will be prevented from practicing", Hunt said.

Source: Medindia