I write in support of David Berger's articulate challenge to the policies of the Committee of General Practice Education Directors (COGPED)1 over its relicensing of GPs returning from abroad after working within comparable health systems. As the former chairman of the Joint Committee on Postgraduate Training for General Practice (JCPTGP) who presided over the original introduction of summative assessment, a member for 14 years of the General Medical Council (GMC) and a former UK Council member of the College I offer an opinion founded upon experience of such matters.
One of the abiding principles of professional regulation, if it is not to be overbearing and attract profligate opportunity costs for both the regulator and the regulated, is the concept of a risk-based approach to the validation of the necessary skills and knowledge required for general medical practice. This is, or should be, something that is applied to the process of revalidation that the GMC plans to introduce over the next 12 months.
Berger has made several prescient representations to the GP community over recent months that should be heeded lest we experience the unintended consequences for the English workforce he sensibly predicts.
Notes
Competing interests
David Berger and I are both non-executive directors of BMJ Publications Group Ltd.
- © British Journal of General Practice 2012
