The registration of medical graduates from Eastern European Union countries with the General Medical Council (GMC) and the Medical Council, Ireland.

The purpose of this study was to identify the number of medical graduates registered with the General Medical Council (GMC) between 1990 and 2005, whose initial training was in Eastern Europe and who came from universities which have subsequently developed an "English Parallel" course and are now within the European Union (EU). A similar exercise was undertaken with graduates registered with the Medical Council, Ireland. Between 1990 and 2005 one thousand six hundred and fourteen (1614) doctors, who had trained in the selected universities from Eastern Europe, registered with the General Medical Council (GMC) in the United Kingdom (Table 1). The Register of Medical Practitioners for Ireland as at 1st July 2005 was also scanned manually to identify graduates from these countries who were registered in Ireland. Sixty four such graduates were identified of whom 6 qualified before 1990 and 5 were in their internship year. The study suggests that since 2000 younger graduates who sought training in Central and Eastern Europe are returning to the UK shortly after graduation to register and start clinical training.