After graduation

After graduating from ScotGEM, you will receive your MBChB degree, which is a primary medical qualification (PMQ). Holding a PMQ entitles you to provisional registration with the General Medical Council (GMC), subject only to its acceptance that there are no 'Fitness to Practice' concerns that need consideration. Provisional registration is time-limited to a maximum of three years and 30 days (1,125 days in total). After this time period, your provisional registration will normally expire.

Foundation Year 1 programme

Provisionally registered doctors can only practise in approved Foundation Year 1 posts: the law does not allow provisionally registered doctors to undertake any other type of work. To obtain a Foundation Year 1 post, you will need to apply during the final year of your undergraduate course through the UK Foundation Programme Office selection scheme, which allocates these posts to graduates on a competitive basis. So far, all suitably qualified UK graduates have found a place on the Foundation Year 1 programme, but this cannot be guaranteed, for instance if there were to be an increased number of competitive applications.

Successful completion of the Foundation Year 1 programme is normally achieved within 12 months and is marked by the award of a Certificate of Experience. You will then be eligible to apply for full registration with the General Medical Council. You need full registration with a licence to practise for unsupervised medical practice in the NHS or private practice in the UK.

Although this information is currently correct, students need to be aware that regulations in this area may change from time to time. 

Medical Licensing Assessment

The following is applicable for graduates from 2024 onwards. 

The GMC is introducing a Medical Licensing Assessment – the MLA. The MLA will create a demonstration that anyone obtaining registration with a licence to practise medicine in the UK has met a common threshold for safe practice.

To obtain a PMQ, graduates from 2024 onwards will need to have a degree that includes a pass in both parts of the MLA. One part will be a test of applied knowledge (the AKT), set by the GMC and held at your medical school. The other will be an assessment of your clinical and professional skills delivered by your medical school (the CPSA). Each school’s CPSA must meet GMC-set quality assurance requirements.

The MLA will test what doctors are likely to encounter in early practice and what’s essential for safe practice. It intentionally will not cover the whole of a medical school curriculum. So, you will also need to meet your university’s degree requirements.  

Information about the MLA can be found on the GMC website.