From the tabs below, please select either Desktop or Mobile to find the help you need. You can also select the Glossary of Terms tab to find our complete data dictionary or click on Additional Resources to find some written guides and video.
We recommend using the latest version of Google Chrome to use GMC Data Explorer, for both Mac and Windows operating systems, and mobile devices. If you are unable to use Chrome, we would recommend updating your browser to the most up to date version.
Please note that the data shown in Data Explorer is refreshed every 24 hours. Where information is not current and shows information as it was on a particular date, this will be explained on the report.
Mobile
The mobile view of Data Explorer provides a reduced version of our tool. To access the full set of available information, we recommend accessing Data Explorer through a desktop computer.
On every page of Data Explorer on mobile, you will be able to access the ‘Help’ menu in the footer links, to come back to this page and access our glossary of terms.
Using the report slicers
At the top of every report page, you will find a few slicers which you can use to refine the data on show. Any changes you make will be retained when you download the data, but they will default back to original state if you navigate to any other report page.
We also have a ‘Show by’ field on many of our reports, which give you the ability to cut the data by values such as gender, licence, age, specialties and more.
Navigating through Data Explorer
Data Explorer has a permanent navigation menu available at the top of the site, covering the six main areas of reports: The register, Revalidation, Fitness to practice, Medical schools, Postgraduate trainees, and Doctors moves. You can read about what’s available through these reports on our guide to Data Explorer.
Under each main navigation item, you can find links to further reports in that area. For example, under the ‘Fitness to practise’ menu, you can find links to our reports on complaints, investigations and sanctions, designated bodies and the world map of sanctions.
At the bottom of some reports, you will also find additional report buttons that link you on to even more information.
Downloading information from Data Explorer
Data Explorer is produced using MS Power BI, and all the data we hold is available for download. Touch any table, graph or chart, and an Ellipsis (three dots) will appear to the top right of the visual. Click on the Ellipsis to select ‘Export data’ before selecting your preferred format.
The Ellipsis also gives users the ability to show any chart “as a table”, which can be helpful when viewing on a small screen.
Focus mode
Touch any table, graph or chart to find a button called Focus Mode, to the top right of the visual (as shown below). It allows you to see an enlarged version of the visual and provides a full legend.
Viewing charts and graphs as a table
Right-click on any graph or chart and you will receive an option to Show as a table (shown below). Select 'Show as a table' and this will then display the same data in a table format.
You can then click Back to Report to return back to the original page:
Feedback
We value your feedback to help us improve our data tools, and you can raise a feedback form to give us your views.
If you have queries about Data Explorer or can’t find the information you are looking for, then please contact us.
Desktop
On every page of Data Explorer, you can select the 'i' symbol at the top of the page to provide information about that specific report. You will be able to find information on what the data means and how our data is structured.
Using the report slicers
On the right of every report page, you will find a collection of slicers which you can use to refine the data. Any changes you make will be retained when you download the data, but the slicers will default back to original state if you navigate to any other report page.
We also have a ‘Show by’ field on many of our reports, which gives you the ability to cut the data by values such as gender, licence, age, specialties and more.
Navigating through Data Explorer
Data Explorer has a permanent navigation menu available at the top of the site, covering the six main areas of reports: The register, Revalidation, Fitness to practice, Medical schools, Postgraduate trainees, and Doctors moves. You can read about what’s available through these reports on our guide to Data Explorer.
Under each main navigation item, you can find links to further reports in that area. For example, under the ‘Fitness to practise’ menu, you can find links to our reports on complaints, investigations and sanctions, designated bodies and the world map of sanctions.
Within some reports, you will also find additional report buttons that link you on to even more information. Use the ‘i’ buttons at the top of each report to understand what you can find.
Downloading information from Data Explorer
Data Explorer is produced using MS Power BI, and all the data we hold is available for download. As you hover your mouse over any table, graph or chart, an Ellipsis (three dots) will appear to the top right of the visual. Click on the Ellipsis to select ‘Export data’ before selecting your preferred format.
The Ellipsis also gives users the ability to show any chart “as a table”.
Focus mode
Hover over any table, graph or chart to find a button called Focus Mode to the top-right of any visual (as shown below). It allows you to see an enlarged version of the visual you are interested in and provides a full legend.
Feedback
We value your feedback to help us improve our data tools, and you can raise a feedback form to give us your views. If you have queries about Data Explorer or can’t find the information you are looking for, then please contact us.
Glossary of terms
Below you can find a full glossary of terms used in Data Explorer.
Updated November 2023.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Age Bands | Current age band of the doctor based on their date of birth. For doctors without a date of birth on our system, we estimate their age based on them being 24 on their primary medical qualification (PMQ) award date. |
| Age bands at complaint | This shows a doctor's age band at the time a complaint was received. For doctors without a date of birth on our system, we estimate their age based on them being 24 on their primary medical qualification (PMQ) award date. |
| All sanctions in the past year | This shows the number of sanctions imposed on doctors by the GMC in the last year. You can read more about GMC sanctions on our website. |
| Awarding body | Awarding bodies set exams and award qualifications. You can look at our list of current UK awarding bodies on our website. |
| Case outcome | The outcome of GMC complaints and/or fitness to practise proceedings. |
| Current active sanctions | This shows the number of sanctions issued by the GMC which are currently active. You can read more about GMC sanctions on our website. |
| Current GP | This means the doctor is currently on the GP register. |
| Current registration | Current registration status the doctor holds as set out on the medical register, including whether they are no longer registered. Read more about registration on our website. |
| Current specialist | This means the doctor is currently on the specialist register. |
| Current specialty group | Current specialty group of the doctor (not the specialty of the doctor at the time of any fitness to practise proceedings or complaint). |
| Deanery | A deanery is an organisation in the UK that is responsible for NHS postgraduate medical training. |
| Designated body | A designated body is an approved organisation in the UK that helps to support the doctors connected to them through appraisal and revalidation. |
| Domain | The complaints we receive about doctors are categorised under four domains (sections) of Good Medical Practice (GMP). GMP describes what it means to be a good doctor, and you can read more about it on our website. |
| Ethnicity | Ethnicity group as recorded by the doctor. |
| EEA | European Economic Area (excluding the UK). |
| Gender | Gender of the doctor as recorded on the register currently. |
| GP | General Practitioner. |
| HSC | Health and Social Care (the publicly funded healthcare system in Northern Ireland). |
| IMG | International Medical Graduate. An IMG is a doctor who has received their primary medical qualification from outside of the UK and/or the European Economic Area. |
| Investigation outcome | The outcome of GMC complaints and/or fitness to practise proceedings. |
| LETB | Local Education Training Board. These are NHS organisations in the UK which is responsible for the education and training of doctors, health and public health workers at a regional level. |
| Licence | Doctors who practise medicine in the UK must hold a registration with a licence to practise. A doctor can be registered with a licence to practise, registered only, or not registered in which case they do not hold a licence. |
| Medical school | This is the medical school or UK awarding body of the doctor. |
| NTS | National training survey. We run this survey every year to gain a comprehensive picture of the experiences of doctors in training and trainers across the UK, to help monitor and report on the quality of postgraduate medical education and training. |
| Organisation | For fitness to practise data this is the location where the actual incident occurred or the place where the doctor worked/was employed at the time of the incident - if the incident was not work related. Not all complaints can be linked to a location. |
| Outcode | The outcode is the first part of a UK postcode. |
| Parent organisation | This the parent organisation of the location where the doctor works. |
| PMQ | Primary medical qualification. |
| PMQ country | The country where a doctor was awarded their primary medical qualification. |
| PMQ UK country | The country within the UK where a doctor was awarded their primary medical qualification. |
| PMQ world region | This is the current region of the world where a doctor was awarded their primary medical qualification – UK, European Economic Area (inc. Norway and Switzerland), and International Medical Graduate (IMG). |
| PMQ world sub-region | This is the current sub-region of the world where a doctor was awarded their primary medical qualification |
| PMQ year | The year a doctor was awarded their primary medical qualification. There are some doctors where this information is missing. This is now compulsory for all new doctors but historically there are some gaps in collection. |
| Postgraduate training country/region | This is the country or region, where the doctor undertaking postgraduate medical training is located for their training, as recorded in the national training survey (NTS). The GMC set standards and expected outcomes for medical education and training in the UK. Please see our website for more information about approved postgraduate specialties/curricula. |
| Postgraduate training location | The organisation where the doctor is carrying out postgraduate medical training, as recorded in the national training survey (NTS). The GMC set standards and expected outcomes for medical education and training in the UK. Please see our website for more information about approved postgraduate specialties/curricula. |
| Primary specialty group | The Primary specialty group is the first specialty group in which a doctor registered with the GMC (as doctors may be on the specialist register in more than one specialty). |
| Registered specialty group | This shows all specialty groups in which doctors have entered onto the specialist register (as doctors may enter the specialist register in more than one specialty and so individual; doctors may be counted more than once as part of this group). |
| Registration | The registration status the doctor holds as set out on the medical register, including if they are no longer registered. |
| Registration type | The type of registration a doctor holds, including whether they are fully registered or hold temporary registration. |
| Religion | Religion as recorded by the doctor. |
| Revalidation | Every licensed doctor who practises medicine must be involved in the revalidation process. Revalidation supports doctors to develop their practice and ensures that their doctor’s knowledge and skills are up to date. |
| RMO | Resident Medical Officer. |
| Sanction type | Type of sanction or warning issued by the GMC following fitness to practise proceedings. You can read more about GMC sanctions on our website. |
| Sexual orientation | Sexual orientation as recorded by the doctor. |
| Specialty | Specialty as recorded on the medical register. Doctors will appear under each specialty they are registered with. For a list of all UK GMC approved postgraduate curricula please see our website. |
| Specialty group |
Similar medical specialties are grouped together to form specialty groups. This includes:
|
| Training group |
Doctors in medical training are categorised into different training medical groups depending on their stage or type of training. This includes Foundation, Core, and Specialty training groups. Further information setting out different Foundation, Core, and Specialty curricula is available on our website. Not all postgraduate training programmes have a Core element as some recruit doctors after completion of Foundation training and those that don’t are included in our data under the Specialty training group category. For undergraduate medical students the training group shown will reflect what was recorded during the latest NTS survey. For postgraduate medical trainees the training group will reflect all the training programmes the doctor has been part of as a postgraduate trainee. |
| Training programme |
The approved medical training programme of the doctor, noting that:
|
| Training programme group |
These are groupings of similar medical training programmes, noting that:
|
| Training region | This shows the country or region in in which the doctor’s postgraduate training was based, as recorded in the latest national training survey. |
| Training year | This shows the year when this data was received in the national training survey (not the year of training when a doctor entered or completed their medical training). |
Additional resources
We have created a video on how to use Data Explorer, which will guide you through how to navigate this data tool, how to download and how to filter the data to get what you are looking for.
We have also developed a series of guides including: