Scope of registration
Medical practitioners in independent practice
In Schedule 2, paragraph 3, an exception applies to the provision of treatment in a surgery or consulting room by a medical practitioner who is (or a group of medical practitioners who are):
- a service provider already registered for the regulated activity of Treatment of disease, disorder or injury
or
- employed by such a service provider
and either
- on the medical performers list for a designated body
or
- employed by a service provider that is a designated body.
By medical practitioner, we mean a doctor registered with the General Medical Council.
This exception does not apply to medical practitioners who are carrying out the following procedures detailed in Schedule 2, paragraph 4:
- treatment carried out under anaesthesia or intravenously administered sedation, apart from the following procedures detailed in Schedule 1, paragraph 6(2):
- nail surgery and nail bed procedures on any area of the foot that are carried out using local anaesthesia or without anaesthesia
- curettage (scraping), cautery (burning) or cryocautery (freezing) of warts, verrucae or other skin lesions carried out using local anaesthesia or without anaesthesia
- medical services provided in connection with childbirth
- the termination of pregnancies
- cosmetic surgery, with the exception of:
- the piercing of any part of the human body
- tattooing
- subcutaneous injections of a substance(s) to enhance appearance
- removal of hair roots or small blemishes on the skin by applying heat using an electric current
- haemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis
- endoscopy, other than using a device that does not have a lumen or another channel designed to pass fluid or instruments through, or remove body tissue or fluid or any other item from, a person’s body
- providing hyperbaric therapy, by administering oxygen (whether or not combined with one or more other gases) to a person who is in a sealed chamber that is gradually pressurised with compressed air, where the therapy is carried out by or under the supervision or direction of a medical practitioner
- intravenous, intrathecal or epidural administration of medicines or diagnostic agents
- the therapeutic or diagnostic use of x-rays, radiation, protons or magnetic resonance imaging
- invasive cardiac physiology tests.
For the purpose of this guidance, granting of practising privileges by a designated body is considered the same as being employed by the designated body.
This exception does not apply to an organisation or a partnership that employs a range of staff as well as medical practitioners. It does not apply to treatment provided outside of a surgery or consulting room, or to treatment provided remotely over the telephone, by video consultation or by email.
This diagram illustrates this exception for medical practitioners working in private practice.
