What's next for me?

I have known for some time that I wanted to specialise in the United Kingdom (UK) before returning home to the Cayman Islands to permanently settle and work as a doctor. Around the fourth year of medical school, I started researching the process to register for a license to practice with the General Medical Council (GMC).

On January 1, 2021, Brexit came into effect and there were a few changes to this process. 

    1. Non-UK citizens who completed their medical degree in the European Union (EU) are no longer required to complete the Professional and Linguistic Assessment Board (PLAB) exam, and 

    2. Starting in 2024, all international and UK medical students will be a required to take a new exam called the Medical Licensing Assessment (MLA) to register with the GMC. 

As a British Overseas Territory Citizen, these changes didn't affect me too much, and to be honest, it actually made things easier for my friends who weren't British. 

Currently, the process to register for a license to practice as a graduate of the University of Pécs Medical School looks something like this,

Let me explain a bit about each step.

Step 1 may have you a bit confused. Yes, despite being a British passport holder, only speaking English, and having gone to school in English my whole life, including a Bachelor's degree and medical school, I still have to prove I can speak English adequately. 

If you take a look at the website of the GMC, you will find a long list of medical schools from which your medical degree cannot be used as evidence of your English knowledge. All four medical schools in Hungary are on this list because the native language in Hungary is not English and more than 75% of a medical student's patient contact is not conducted in English, without any translation. 

Evidence of sufficient English language skills can be proven by taking either the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) or the Occupational English Test (OET). Both exams have 4 sections: reading, listening, writing, and speaking. The criteria for the GMC to accept your IELTS certificate is that it must be the academic version of the test, you must have a score of at least 7.0 in each section and an overall score of 7.5, and these scores must all be received in the same test. The criteria for the GMC to accept your OET certificate are that it must be the medicine version of the test, you must have a score of at least a grade 'B' in each section, and these scores must all be received in the same test.

It is not uncommon for native English speakers to take this exam more than once. Many struggles with the writing component as did I the first time around. I took the IELTS two times. Once on January 30, 2021, and a second time on April 17, 2021. The second time around I received a 9.0 in the reading, a 9.0 in the listening, a 7.0 in the writing, and a 9.0 in the speaking. My overall score was 8.5 and my Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) level C2 proficiency. 

I had heard from other students that the OET is easier, but since there is no OET testing centre in Hungary and it is more than double the price of the IELTS, I opted for the IELTS rather than the OET. (FYI, since I've taken my exam, both the OET and the IELTS can now be completed online at home.) I also decided to take the exam before the start of my sixth year because I knew the IELTS certificate is valid for 2 years and I figured with all the travelling for rotations and preparations for my final exams I wouldn't have the time to prepare for it. I was right and looking back I am really happy I chose to do it in advance.

With my IELTS done and the sixth year finally over, on June 5, 2022, I began step 2. 

All applicants with non-UK medical qualifications need to have their passport and diploma, independently verified before registration with the GMC. This can be done through the Electronic Portfolio of International Credentials (EPIC) website, a service of the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG). 

You have to begin by requesting to establish an EPIC account. To do this I needed to upload a passport-size photo, an image of the picture page of my passport, and pay an EPIC Account establishment fee of $130 US. Afterwards, I received an email confirming my request had been successful and that I should wait a couple of days to receive a temporary username and password. A whole week passed before I received any response. I had three emails. One email with my temporary username, another email with my temporary password, and a final email with instructions on what to do to complete my EPIC Identification Form (EIF).

I logged into EPIC and immediately changed my temporary username and password to permanent ones. Next, I downloaded the EIF from the My Identity Documents section and followed the steps in the email to request to have it notarised. NotaryCam is ECFMG’s preferred online notary service. They provide online access to professionally licensed and certified notaries that meet ECFMG’s standards at no additional cost.

The notarisation took less than five minutes. I was emailed a secure meeting link to join the appointment online. I had to show the picture page of my passport, state my name, date of birth, and address, sign the form in the presence of the notary, and lastly, raise my right hand to swear that all the information I had provided was indeed true. At the end of the session, the notary informed me that he would send the signed EIF electronically to ECFMG for processing and that it would take roughly three business days for ECFMG to complete their verification. Later that day, the notary sent an email confirming that my documents had been sent to ECFMG. The notary also reminded me that after receipt of the notarised EIF the ECFMG usually takes three business days to process and that once complete I would be able to access my final document in my ECFMG portal. 

Today, I received confirmation that my notarised EIF had been accepted and that I could now upload my credentials for primary-source verification through the My Credentials section on my EPIC account. However, I do not yet have my credentials. I will receive my final diploma at the graduation ceremony in two weeks, so now, it's time for step 3. 

Stay tuned as steps 4 to 7 will be discussed in other posts...