Showing GMC, NMC and HCPC Registration on Your Clinic Website

Why registration belongs on the website

Patients choosing a private clinic cannot easily judge clinical skill, but they can check whether a clinician is registered with the right regulator. A profile that names the register and links to the entry answers that question in one click. It also protects the clinic: if a clinician's registration changes, the register shows it, and a link to the register is less likely to mislead than a statement typed into a profile years ago.

The main registers

What the GMC register shows

The General Medical Council's guidance for employers explains what its online register can confirm: whether the doctor holds registration and a licence to practise, whether they are on the GP Register or the Specialist Register, and whether any conditions, warnings or restrictions apply^[1]. Those are exactly the things a patient might want to check, so a link to the entry is more useful than a long list of letters after a name.

The GMC tells employers to check the Specialist Register for consultant roles^[1]. On a clinic website, describing a doctor as a consultant in a specialty without a matching Specialist Register entry invites confusion. If a doctor is an experienced practitioner but not on the Specialist Register, describe their role and experience accurately instead.

Protected titles

Some professional titles are protected by law. The HCPC explains that Article 39(1) of the Health Professions Order 2001 makes it a criminal offence for a person, with intent to deceive, to claim to be on the HCPC register, to use a title they are not entitled to, or to falsely claim relevant qualifications. The HCPC notes that describing a service as "physiotherapy" or "chiropody" can imply such a claim if the person is not registered^[2].

For a clinic website, the practical point is to check every title against the register before publishing. If your clinic employs sports therapists or massage therapists who are not HCPC registered, describe their services in their own terms rather than with protected titles.

Titles in advertising rules

Advertising rules add another layer. The ASA's guidance on marketing cosmetic procedures sets out when doctors may describe themselves as surgeons or cosmetic surgeons and addresses words such as "qualified", "skilled", "consultant" and "specialist"^[3]. The full advertising guidance on cosmetic interventions goes further: it links describing a doctor as "qualified" in a specialty to entry on the GMC Specialist Register, says a claim to be "experienced" would normally need five years of full-time practice, and reserves "consultant" for doctors who hold or have held an NHS consultant post, not a locum one^[4]. These words affect how patients judge a clinician, so they need the same care as protected titles even where the law does not formally protect them.

How to lay out registration on a profile

A clear format, used consistently across all profiles, works best:

Registration: General Medical Council, number 0000000. Specialist Register: dermatology. View register entry.

The example uses a placeholder number. On a real profile, the "view register entry" link goes to the clinician's own entry. Keep the registration line near the top of the profile, not hidden at the bottom. If a clinician holds registration with more than one regulator, list each one.

Registration details should also be easy to find from the treatment pages. A short line naming the clinician who carries out each treatment, linked to their profile, lets a patient move from "what is this treatment" to "who will do it and how are they registered" in two clicks.

Keeping registration current

• Check each profile against the register when a clinician joins, and at least once a year.
• Remove profiles promptly when a clinician leaves, with a redirect to the team page.
• If a register entry shows conditions or restrictions, review whether the treatments listed on the profile are still appropriate.
• Do not copy register details into images, where they cannot be updated or read by screen readers.

Consultants and PHIN

Consultants who treat private patients also have a profile on the Private Healthcare Information Network, which publishes fee information under the CMA's Private Healthcare Market Investigation Order 2014. Linking to that profile from your clinic's own consultant profile gives patients another independent source. Our guide on fee information and PHIN explains the duties behind it.

Practitioners who are not on a statutory register

Some clinics employ practitioners whose professions are not regulated by a statutory body, such as some therapists and technicians. Their profiles can still be clear and honest. Describe what they do in plain words, list any qualifications and memberships accurately, and avoid any title that belongs to a regulated profession. If a voluntary register applies to their field, it can be named and linked, with a note that it is a voluntary register rather than a statutory one.

Team pages and group listings

On a team page that lists many clinicians, a short registration line under each name, linking to the full profile, keeps the page readable. The full register details belong on the profile itself. For groups with several sites, each location page can list the clinicians who work there, with the same short format, so patients can check the people they are likely to see.

Wording to check on every profile

The ASA's guidance on cosmetic procedures addresses terms such as "consultant" and "specialist" directly^[4], and the HCPC explains the offence of misusing protected titles^[2].