Brexit may mean tougher checks on European doctors

Brexit may have implications for European doctors entering the UK to work, a medical watchdog warns.

Leaving the European Union could provide the General Medical Council (GMC), which decides who is qualified to work in the UK, with the opportunity to be more rigorous with checking European doctors hoping to work in the country.

But the watchdog said it was "far too soon" to predict what would happen, adding that everything hinges on "whether the principle of free movement is maintained within the treaty of withdrawal".

Chief executive of GMC Niall Dickson said: "There is no doubt that withdrawing from Europe will have implications for the way that we regulate doctors. However it is far too soon to tell what those implications will be.

"Whatever happens, we want to protect the position of European Economic Area (EEA) doctors who play such a vital role in the UK's healthcare system."

European law currently stops the GMC from testing European doctors' competence, as it does for non-EU medics, which Mr Dickson said was a "weakness" in the system.

Instead, the regulator must rely on the "robustness of the medical education and regulation system in the doctor's home country" when doctors come and work in the UK.

But the prospect of Brexit means it may be possible to introduce assessments of knowledge and skill for EEA doctors.

In 2014, the European Commission enabled regulators in Europe - including the GMC - to introduce language tests for prospective health professionals.

Since then, more than a thousand doctors from Europe have not met the GMC's English language requirements and are not able to practise in the UK until they do.