I thought I would explain a bit more about the system of medical education for the benefit of those unfamiliar with how doctors are trained in the UK.
All medical practitioners in the UK have to be registered with the General Medical Council. The GMC is the authority responsible for the registration and licensing of all medical practitioners in the UK. Registration is achieved by gaining a primary medical qualification at a medical school listed by the World Health Organisation. The GMC do not treat all medical schools in the WHO directory the same - schools in the UK, EU and Switzerland are, to a certain extent, favoured over those from elsewhere.
There are 3 levels of registration with the GMC - limited, provisional and full. If you are a graduate from a UK/EU/Swiss medical school you are entitled to provisional registration for your first 12 months after graduation and then can upgrade to full registration. If you are a graduate from a medical school elsewhere you are usually entitled to limited registration, which has certain conditions you need to fulfill before you are allowed to become fully registered.
For UK medical schools the primary medical qualifications awarded are the degrees of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery. These degrees are usually abbreviated to MB ChB, MB BS, BM BS or MB BChir. The University of Southampton award a degree called just Bachelor of Medicine (BM), but this has exactly the same value and meaning as those degrees with the 'double-barrelled' names.
Traditionally, it takes a school leaver 5 years to graduate with a primary medical qualification from a UK university. Within the last decade 'foundation year' and 'graduate entry' courses have been introduced. The courses with a foundation year, aimed at those people with non-science backgrounds or alternative qualifications, last 6 years. The graduate entry courses, open to graduates with a good science degree or who are already healthcare workers, last only 4 years. Whichever route is taken the result at the end is the same - a primary medical qualification that allows registration with the GMC.
All medical practitioners in the UK have to be registered with the General Medical Council. The GMC is the authority responsible for the registration and licensing of all medical practitioners in the UK. Registration is achieved by gaining a primary medical qualification at a medical school listed by the World Health Organisation. The GMC do not treat all medical schools in the WHO directory the same - schools in the UK, EU and Switzerland are, to a certain extent, favoured over those from elsewhere.
There are 3 levels of registration with the GMC - limited, provisional and full. If you are a graduate from a UK/EU/Swiss medical school you are entitled to provisional registration for your first 12 months after graduation and then can upgrade to full registration. If you are a graduate from a medical school elsewhere you are usually entitled to limited registration, which has certain conditions you need to fulfill before you are allowed to become fully registered.
For UK medical schools the primary medical qualifications awarded are the degrees of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery. These degrees are usually abbreviated to MB ChB, MB BS, BM BS or MB BChir. The University of Southampton award a degree called just Bachelor of Medicine (BM), but this has exactly the same value and meaning as those degrees with the 'double-barrelled' names.
Traditionally, it takes a school leaver 5 years to graduate with a primary medical qualification from a UK university. Within the last decade 'foundation year' and 'graduate entry' courses have been introduced. The courses with a foundation year, aimed at those people with non-science backgrounds or alternative qualifications, last 6 years. The graduate entry courses, open to graduates with a good science degree or who are already healthcare workers, last only 4 years. Whichever route is taken the result at the end is the same - a primary medical qualification that allows registration with the GMC.
