Checks ordered on locum GPs

All doctors who work as GPs must be qualified

The Department of Health has ordered checks on thousands of freelance GPs working in the NHS.

It follows concerns that some locum GPs may be treating patients even though they are not qualified.

Doctors are required to undergo three years of specialist training after their medical degree before they are qualified to work as GPs.

Local health managers are supposed to check a doctor's qualifications before they allow them to work as locum GPs.

Proper checks

However, authorities believe many managers are failing to run proper checks. An estimated 7,000 GPs work as locums in the NHS.

The Department of Health has now ordered them to check the qualifications of all locum GPs.

This is part of our ongoing efforts to protect the public from doctors who do not have proper training

Department of Health spokeswoman

A spokeswoman said: "We expect them to remove doctors who do not meet the vocational training requirements.

"This is part of our ongoing efforts to protect the public from doctors who do not have proper training."

All GPs must have a certificate from the Joint Committee on the Postgraduate Training for General Practice (JCPTGP), which overseas GP training. This certificate is effectively a license to practise as a GP in the UK.

Doctors at the joint committee say they have come across a number of cases where individuals have been working as locum GPs without proper qualifications.

In each of these cases, the doctors had medical degrees but did not have enough specialist training.

"It is something we come across fairly regularly, although the numbers are small," said Dr Justin Allen, its joint honorary secretary.

"However, these are only the doctors that come to us. There are probably a lot more out there that we are not aware of."

Dr Allen said it was important GPs were properly qualified.

"GPs are the first point of patients for many patients. They are working in isolation from other doctors and have to make decisions on sometimes seriously ill patients.

"They need to have particular skills and knowledge to be able to carry out this work," he told BBC News Online.