VATHLT2090 - Doctors: Medical Practitioners with limited registration

Medical practitioners from other member states have the right to practice in the UK (as do British medical practitioners in other member states). Where they become established in the UK, their name will be entered on the register of medical practitioners and they are entitled to exempt their supplies under item 1. Where they do not intend to become established, but wish to practice temporarily, then as long as they provide the appropriate documentation to the relevant authority before they perform any medical services in the UK, their name will be entered on the register of medical practitioners with limited registration and they will also be entitled to exempt their supplies.

In some cases however, a medical practitioner from another member state may not be in a position to provide the documentation prior to his visiting the UK and performing the services; for example where a visitor to the UK is taken ill and wishes to be treated by his own doctor. Legal Note (4) to Group 7, Schedule 9 allows the visiting doctor to exempt his supply in such urgent cases, provided he submits the necessary documentation as soon as possible after the services are performed and provided he would be entitled to be included in the register of medical practitioners with limited registration. A visiting medical practitioner’s entitlement to exemption does not depend on the reason why he has not notified the authority of his intention to practice in the UK nor on how urgent the needs of the patient he treated were.

However, medical practitioners from other member states can only practice under supervision, and therefore, de facto, can only practise in a hospital. Therefore exemption under this heading is only likely to occur in very rare circumstances.