Specialty Training for General Practice
Specialty training for general practice
is based on a three year programme which, typically, involves a
series of placements lasting at least 24months in a hospital
setting and at least 12 months in general practice.
Programmes are organised through the postgraduate deaneries which
are organised geographically across the UK. From August 2007, these
programmes will be based on the RCGP Training Curriculum which has
been approved by the Postgraduate Medical Education and Training
Board (PMETB). The award of a Certificate of Completion of Training
will depend on success in the new MRCGP examination. This will
consist of three elements – a knowledge test, a clinical skills
assessment and work place based assessment carried out during the
training placements.
From January 2007 selection
into GP training will be based on the following person
specification. Those wishing to enter training on completion of a
Foundation Programme should refer to ST1. Applicants will be
required to demonstrate eligibility against each in their
applications and in the selection process. The version below
has been supplied to the College by MTAS and applicants are advised
to note that they are for information and are still subject to
legal approval.
Person Specification for Application to GP Training at ST1
Selection criteria and
methods
Applications will be made
using the National Recruitment Office for
General Practice Training. The short listing-stage of the
application is a national competition for places at selection
centres, whilst the selection centre stage is a competition for
training places at deanery level.
Eligible applicants will be
asked to attend an initial invigilated national assessment designed
to measure the competencies outlined on the person specification.
This forms the short-listing process, and results in national
ranking of all applicants for GP training.
A Unit of Application (UoA) for recruitment into speciality
training programmes is a unit/recruitment team where
recruitment and selection into speciliaty training will be
administered. In most cases, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
will each be a single UoA. In England, UoAs will usually be
deaneries. The UoA will provide information about the clinical
training programmes, academic training programmes and fixed-term
specialty training appointments (FTSTAs) to which it will be
recruiting.
You can only apply for a specialty at a particular level in a
UoA if training opportunities exist for that combination. Your
application will be assessed by each UoA you apply to but the UoAs
will not be able to see which other UoAs you have applied to.
The GP process has been
developed to avoid multiple applications to different deaneries and
to appoint the strongest candidates across the country. All
applicants who meet the GP training entry criteria will be invited
to attend a national short-listing assessment which consists of a
machine-markable test.
The system will sort the
highest scoring candidates in rank order. Highest scoring
applicants will then be invited to attend a selection centre at the
highest preferred location.
Once applicants have been
allocated to a deanery, the competition for a training place will
be at deanery level against the other applicants allocated to that
deanery. The selection centre will comprise three workplace based
assessments, which will include a patient simulation exercise. The
deanery will rank all applicants following the selection centre and
the highest ranked applicants will be offered training places in
the deanery.
Dates for the initial national
assessment and for deanery selection centres are published on
http://www.gprecruitment.org.uk/
Further
information
For more information please
visit http://www.gprecruitment.org.uk/.
This site gives further
information about General Practice training programmes, the
assessment and selection methods we use, links to individual
deanery web sites and answers to many of your Frequently Asked
Questions.
Becoming a Good Candidate
Selection into GP training from Jan 2007 will
be based on competencies, described in the
above documents. Applicants will be required to
demonstrate them in their applications and in the selection
process.