In order to work in the NHS as a General Practitioner you need to:

• have a certificate of specific training in family medicine or a certificate of Acquired Rights* (if you completed your first degree before the end of 1994) to practice as a family doctor
• have recent experience of working in primary care in areas such as "Guardia medica" or "Medicina Generale"
• have a very good knowledge of English
• be an European Economic Area (EEA) national
• have obtained your primary medical qualification from an EEA country.

A typical average salary would be approximately £60,655 (€84,917) gross per annum (2006 figures).

Please visit NHS Jobs and BMJ Careers for information on current vacancies, NHS Careers for general information on careers in the NHS, and the General Medical Council website for registration with the GMC.

Other useful websites are the Royal College of General Practitioners and the British Medical Association.

Should you wish to consider registering with a private recruitment agency we advise you to select from this list of agencies which operate in accordance with the NHS's Code of Practice.

*This certificate, issued by the relevant provincial branch of the Ordine dei Medici, must state that the doctor has graduated before 31 December 1994 and he is "in possesso dei diritti acquisiti", in accordance with Law 368 of 17 August 1999.  

Having obtained this certificate the doctor should contact Mr Rodolfo Dalla Porta at the Italian Ministry of Health (tel 06 59942854, fax 06 59942536), and ask him to send the GMC an official letter.