We are consulting on how we could improve our online medical register (also known as the List of Registered Medical Practitioners - or LRMP). There are currently 270,000 doctors listed on the register, which includes information such as where a doctor gained their primary medical qualification, whether they hold a licence, whether any fitness to practise concerns have been raised against them and if they are in an approved training programme.
Our ambition is to have an advanced and transparent register and to make it useful, relevant and as accessible as possible for doctors, employers and patients. While we've made some improvements to our online register since it was introduced in 2005, it offers less information than registers in other countries.
And with more and more people accessing it (last year there were over 7 million searches), we believe that our register should keep pace with public expectations and with social and technological changes.
What are we consulting on?
Some of the key areas on which we are seeking feedback in our consultation include:
- what the overarching purpose of the register should be
- whether the register should be developed to give a fuller and more accurate picture of a doctor's career
- giving doctors the option of voluntarily adding certain additional information to the register, such as photos, scope of practice and competing professional interests
- revalidation dates
- how we can make sure the data on the register is validated so that we're confident it can be a trusted source of information
- how we can make the register easier to use and the information as accessible and understandable as possible
- how we can meet the need for greater transparency, while being mindful of the privacy and safety of individual doctors.
Why are we running this consultation?
The List of Registered Medical Practitioners (LRMP – also called the medical register) is the unique national database of doctors registered and licensed to practise medicine in the UK. We want to improve the register so it provides more and better information, and is easier to use.
Our ambition is to have the most advanced, transparent register in the world. To achieve this, the register must:
- continue to be a trusted source of reliable, validated information
- provide information that is relevant and useful to those who wish to consult it
- command the confidence of doctors about the information the register holds about them
- reflect changing public expectations about the information patients wish to know when accessing healthcare
- exploit technological advances for the provision of online information
- be accessible and meaningful to expert and non-expert users.
We are seeking views on how we can achieve this.
- What is the scope of this consultation?
We are seeking feedback on our vision for the register and how it can be more open, relevant and useful. This includes considering:
- how the register can better reflect a doctor’s past attainment and current capabilities
- how we make sure the register is flexible enough to adapt to changes in regulation, such as the introduction of new qualifications or forms of accreditation
- how to safeguard the integrity of the register while increasing the range of information it shows
- the balance between the openness of a public register and doctors’ privacy
- ways to improve the experience of everyone who uses the register and to make it as accessible as possible.
