More Tumbleweed
Posted on Friday 12th June 2009
I’m sure many of you will have noticed the shortage of posts recently. Unfortunately I have no excuse for the reduction in activity, other than that mind is on other things.
We now hear relatively little from the UK, and if not for friends and family, it would almost be as if we had not lived there. One organisation that hasn’t forgotten about me is the General Medical Council. It would be nice to think they care about their registered physicians, but instead it was just the annual demand for cash.
One novel policy of theirs is to introduce licensing in parallel to registration. I’m not entirely sure what the licence is supposed to add, as the old system worked just fine. Previously, doctors could chose to be fully registered (which entitled them to practise), be suspended (sort of still registered, but not actively practicing) or rescind their registration. Now the options are to be licenced and registered (so practise medicine), be registered but not licenced (and not practise) or, again, rescind both licence and registration. So where is the difference? I’m sure some bureaucrat in Westminster is very proud of themselves, but it all seems like unnecessary paperwork for nothing.
However this cloud does have a silver lining; a financial one. For the past couple of years, I have had to pay the top whack in order to keep my registration, despite not doing a day of work in the UK. Now I have the opportunity to remain on the register, but at a vastly reduced rate. Bonus … literally!
HI Rick
In fact I was planning to discuss this with you. Do you know how long would it take to move from just being registered to ‘registered and licenced’ if we opted for being registered? Have checked with the GMC website but didnt find a good answer
Do not think friends and family have forgotten you…one day we’ll make it out there, I promise!!