Advice centre

I wake up bolt upright at 5.30am. I look in the mirror and realise I’ve inadvertently left my false eyelashes on from the previous day’s telly. They hang rather precariously from my upper lids – my mascara is half way down my cheeks and my hair is doing a good impersonation of Jedward. My husband rolls over and states that I look like a drag queen and promptly falls back to sleep.

If you are a doctor and want to practise medicine in the UK, you need to hold GMC registration with a licence to practise. Given this requirement, we have carefully considered the appropriate criteria we require of members who produce medicolegal reports and/or act as a medicolegal expert.

Today’s doctors are working in a constantly evolving environment, where many of the old expectations regarding the role of doctors, nurses and patients are being replaced by new ones. The roles themselves are changing – doctors are clinicians, leaders, teachers, managers, commissioners and purchasers of services.

Any doctor who specialises in a particular field would be expected to keep up-todate in that area. This would apply to all fields of medicine. Surgeons with a special interest would be expected to keep up-to-date with developments both in the field of general surgery and their area of special interest.

Sometimes, when an adverse incident occurs, the GMC can take action if a doctor’s fitness to practise is called into question, which could be due to: