Verification · Before the Introduction
A private residence has no credentialing committee.
The verification file is the only one it gets.
What we verify before a private family sees your name — registration and standing, qualifications, employment history, a criminal record certificate, your passport and two references — and how to have each ready, so that verification is never the reason a start date slips.
Last reviewed October 2026. This page is the clinician’s side of the standard we apply to every introduction; the family office’s side is set out in our vetting checklist for private medical teams.
Why the file matters more in a residence than on a ward
A clinician joining a hospital passes through credentialing, occupational health and a supervised induction before anyone relies on their judgement alone. A clinician joining a private family passes through none of them. There is no committee to check a register, no department to call a referee and no colleague to notice a gap in practice. Whatever was verified before the offer is all the family will ever know.
That is why every check below is completed before any name reaches a principal, and why each one is confirmed at source — with the register, the awarding institution, the employer or the referee — rather than taken from a copy.
A private family does not hire a CV. It hires the parts of a CV that someone has confirmed at source.
The file at a glance
| What we verify | How it is confirmed | What to have ready |
|---|---|---|
| Registration and standing | Your entry on your home register, checked directly; a certificate of good standing where your regulator issues one to you | Your registration number, and a register entry whose name matches your passport |
| Specialist status | The GMC Specialist or GP Register, or the European specialist certificate | The specialty that matches the appointment |
| Primary qualification | Direct confirmation with the awarding institution | Your degree certificate, and the document linking your names if yours has changed |
| Employment history | Dates and role titles for the last five to ten years, confirmed with each employer | A CV dated by month and year for every role, with one line on every gap |
| Criminal record | A certificate from every country you have lived in during the last five years, dated within six months | Applications made early, as some take several weeks |
| Identity and travel | Your passport | Validity well beyond the length of the appointment |
| References | At least two, taken by telephone from people who supervised you directly | Referees who know we will call, and what we will ask |
Your home register: the record a family relies on
Every clinician we introduce is registered with the regulator where they trained and practise. In the United Kingdom that is the General Medical Council (GMC) for doctors, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) for nurses and midwives, the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) for physiotherapists and the General Osteopathic Council (GOsC) for osteopaths. In Ireland it is the Medical Council, the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (NMBI) and CORU; elsewhere in Europe, the national council or chamber for your profession.
These registers are public, and they are where verification starts. The GMC register shows a doctor’s registration status and whether they are on the GP or Specialist Register. The NMC register shows whether a nurse or midwife holds effective registration, or is subject to restrictions, a caution order, suspension or removal.
Before you apply
Look yourself up. Check that your entry is current, that the name on it matches your passport and your degree certificate, and that the specialty or field shown is the one you will present. A discrepancy explained at the start is a footnote. Found at the end, it is a delay.
Certificates of good standing
Where your regulator issues a certificate of good standing, or of current professional status, we ask for one dated within the last three months. Request it when we ask, not when you start looking: it dates quickly. HCPC registrants can download a confirmation of their current registration status from their online account at any time.
Some regulators do not issue the certificate to the clinician at all. Since September 2020 the GMC has sent its certificate of good standing only directly to other medical regulators, and refers employers and other organisations to the medical register instead. For doctors on the GMC register, we confirm standing on the register itself.
Conditions, gaps and honest disclosure
A condition on registration, a past fitness-to-practise matter or a career break does not, in itself, close a door. Discovering one late usually does. Tell us at the outset, with dates and outcomes, and it is assessed on its facts. A declared gap is a conversation; an undeclared one, found on a register, ends the introduction.
Qualifications and specialist status
We confirm your primary qualification directly with the awarding institution. Have your degree certificate to hand and, if your name has changed since you qualified, the document that links the two names.
For physicians, specialist status matters as much as the primary degree. Entry on the GMC’s Specialist Register or GP Register, or the European specialist certificate, should match the appointment being briefed — family medicine, general internal medicine, geriatrics or emergency medicine. Where a brief calls for a registered nurse or midwife, we verify that registration; the titles used in private maternity care do not, on their own, confirm it. List post-registration training relevant to the brief — neonatal or paediatric life support, advanced life support, a specialist course — with its date and awarding body.
Osteopathy is regulated differently across Europe. In the United Kingdom, anyone practising as an osteopath must be registered with the GOsC; where a country has no statutory register for the profession, the qualification and membership of the recognised professional body carry more of the weight.
Employment history and references
We confirm dates and role titles for the last five to ten years with each employer. A CV dated by month and year for every role, with one line explaining every gap, saves time on both sides.
References are taken by telephone, from people who supervised you directly: at least two, one on your clinical practice and one on your conduct. Where you have worked in a private, VIP or residential setting, one referee should come from that setting. Beyond competence, referees are asked about:
- How you handle confidential information
- How you conduct yourself with family members and household staff
- How you respond to a request outside your scope of practice
- A decision you made alone, and how you escalated it
- Whether they would engage you again in the same setting
Tell your referees we will call, and that we will ask about discretion and judgement as well as clinical practice. If a previous private appointment is covered by a confidentiality agreement, say so at the start. Never breach it to strengthen an application: a family that values discretion notices the clinician who keeps it.
Criminal record and identity
We ask for a criminal record certificate from every country you have lived in during the last five years, dated within six months. In the United Kingdom, a basic criminal record check can be requested by the individual — through the DBS in England and Wales, Disclosure Scotland or AccessNI — and elsewhere the national police or justice authority issues the equivalent. Some take several weeks, so apply early for any country you left some time ago.
Your passport should be valid well beyond the length of the appointment, with no restriction on travel. The families we work with travel, and the clinician travels with them.
What families ask of every clinician
The families we work with ask three things of every clinician we introduce: availability to start within six weeks, complete flexibility, and the ability to relocate alone and travel with the family wherever it goes, at short notice. Every role is live-in and single-status: a permanent, live-in appointment with the family, with annual leave; once in post, you travel continuously with the family across several countries.
A six-week start leaves no room for a file assembled from scratch after an offer. The clinicians who can say yes are the ones whose file was ready when they applied.
What stays private, and when
Nothing is shared with any family without your explicit instruction. You sign a non-disclosure agreement before a brief is shared, and again, in the household’s own form, before interview. The principal is named to you only once it is signed.
We introduce and verify. The engagement is yours and the family’s.
Medical Staff Talent introduces and verifies clinicians. The engagement is contracted directly between the family and the clinician, and all local arrangements (visa, licensed entity, coordination with local clinics) remain with the family’s own office and advisers. We do not advise on visas, sponsorship or local regulation; any documents the family’s office needs for its own arrangements are requested by that office directly.
If you are a UK & European-trained physician, physiotherapist, osteopath or nurse considering a private family appointment in Saudi Arabia, the UAE or Qatar — and wherever the family travels — send us your CV in confidence through our secure form.
Questions we are asked
What does Medical Staff Talent verify before introducing a clinician to a private family?
Registration and standing on your home register, specialist status where relevant, your primary qualification, employment history over the last five to ten years, a criminal record certificate from every country you have lived in during the last five years, your passport, and at least two references taken by telephone. Each is confirmed at source before any name reaches a family.
Do I need a certificate of good standing before I apply?
No. We ask for it when the time comes, because it dates quickly: where your regulator issues one to you, we need it dated within the last three months. The GMC sends its certificate only to other medical regulators, so for doctors on the GMC register we confirm standing on the register itself.
Who should my referees be?
People who supervised you directly: at least two, one able to speak to your clinical practice and one to your conduct. If you have worked in a private, VIP or residential setting, one referee should come from that setting. References are taken by telephone.
Can I still be considered with a condition on my registration or a career break?
Tell us at the outset, with dates and outcomes. A declared condition or gap is assessed on its facts; one discovered later, on a register or in a reference, usually ends the introduction.
Is my information shared with families?
Not without your explicit instruction. You sign a non-disclosure agreement before any brief is shared, the principal is named to you only once it is signed, and your details reach a family only when you agree.
Related reading
- Vetting a private medical team — the same standard, written for family offices and chiefs of staff
- The confidential hiring process for private families — what happens, in order, once you are shortlisted
- Permanent, live-in and travelling with the family — how private families appoint their clinicians
- Appointments by discipline: private & concierge physicians, physiotherapists, osteopaths and private & maternity nurses
This page reflects Medical Staff Talent’s verification standard as at October 2026. It is general information for clinicians and does not constitute legal, immigration or regulatory advice. Requirements set by regulators and record-checking bodies change; confirm current procedures with the body concerned.