Before you can start practising as a medical doctor in the UK you will need to register with the UK's General Medical Council (GMC). The GMC licenses doctors to practice in the UK under the provisions of the Medical Act 1983. Its purpose is to make sure that the public is served by doctors who have the qualities it expects, and to protect the public from doctors whose conduct, professional performance or health places patients at risk.

Consultants will require both full and specialist registration (you may apply for both at the same time). The application form for registration can be downloaded from the GMC website.

First of all, open the registration flowchart and navigate through it: an Italian national who qualified in Italy should arrive at the box "You may be eligible for full or provisional registration".  

Clicking on this box will take you to Guidance for EEA graduates page. Here, select Applying to join the Register (from the left-hand panel).

Select the appropriate response to the prompts "My primary medical qualification is from a university..", "I am a national of..." and "I have/have not completed an internship [12 month period of post-graduate practical clinical experience] in/outside the UK"

This leads you to 13 pages of instructions on applying for registration which you should read carefully.

At the bottom of the last of these pages, select the option "Set up a MyGMC account", which is the first step in the application process.

Please note:
The completed application form, together with photocopies of all the documents which you are asked to supply, will need to be sent by registered post ("raccomandata") to the address indicated.   The Italian certificates required are:  Laurea, Specializzazione, Abilitazione, Iscrizione all'Ordine dei Medici, and Buona Condotta.  

Documents not in English will need to be accompanied by a translation carried out by a professional translator.  The translator should sign the translation and also attach evidence of his competence (eg copy of relevant qualification, membership of professional body).  (Translations no longer need to be stamped at the Tribunale as was required in the past.)  The British Embassy can supply details of translators if required.  

It is not necessary for EEA nationals to sit the IELTS (International English Language Testing System) examination: this requirement applies to non-EEA nationals only.

As you will see on their website, as from 1 April 2005 the GMC has introduced pre-registration identity checks for all EEA nationals.  (UK and non-EEA nationals already undergo such checks as part of the registration process.)   Therefore, as the last stage in the application process, when the GMC confirm that your application can be granted, they will invite you to make an appointment to visit their London or Manchester office in person, for a digital photograph to be taken.  You will also be requested to bring along to this appointment originals of all your documents.

Before applying for jobs on-line, if you are not already registered with the GMC you should visit their website to check you meet the criteria for registration.  Then on your CV, in the Personal Details section, insert: "UK GMC registration: eligibility confirmed, but not yet registered".