The Training Pathway
Learn about the stages and assessments to
complete to become a general practitioner
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Stages |
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Duration |
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Assessments |
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RCGP Membership |
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Medical school |
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5-6 years |
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OSCEs; written papers
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Student membership
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Foundation prgramme |
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2 years |
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Workplace-based Assessment including Mini Clinical Evaluation
Exercise (Mini-CEX); Team Assessment of Behaviours (TAB);
Case-Based Discussion (CBD); Direct Observation of Procedural
Skills (DOPS)
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Foundation doctor membership
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GP specialty training |
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3 years |
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Applied Knowledge Test (AKT); Clinical Skills Assessment (CSA);
Workplace-based Assessment (WPBA)
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Associate in Training (AiT)
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Medical School
The undergraduate medical degree is the first step in your
professional training and takes four or five years to complete.
There are thirty-two medical schools in the UK, a complete listing
of which is available from the University and College Admissions
Service (UCAS) 
, the central agency for application to any
undergraduate degree within the UK.
Medical schools set their own criteria for
accepting students onto their courses, details of which are
published annually by the Universities and Colleges Admissions
Service (UCAS).
During your final undergraduate year, the
General Medical Council (GMC)
visits your medical school and provides you with information about
how to apply for provisional registration. Once you’ve passed
your exams and paid a fee, your registration will automatically be
updated.
If you are thinking about becoming a GP try to get some
experience if it is not built into your programme.
Foundation Programme
The aim of the Foundation Programme (or Run Through Training) is
to equip you with the necessary skills you will need as a doctor,
focussing on core competencies of medical practice rather than
preparing for or concentrating on a specific specialty.
The Foundation Programme consists of two years
spent in any of the 65 recognised specialties including surgery,
haematology, ENT, paediatrics, dermatology and
gynaecology.
The competences that you will be expected to
achieve are based on the principles laid out in the GMC's Good
Medical Practice.
Key points
The Foundation Programme is
not preparation for any particular specialty and, as such,
there is not requirement for a doctor to take a GP placement in
theFoundation Years in order to access Specialty Training for
General Practice. Equally, no posts completed within the Foundation
Years may be counted towards a Certificate of Completion of
Training (CCT).
GP Specialty Training
"As an undergraduate there is an increased
exposure to the work that a GP undertakes within the community and
that first got me interested in becoming a GP. It
demonstrated the wide range of skills and knowledge that a GP
requires, as well as having a lot of patient involvement and these
things instantly attracted me. The foundation system allowed a
further opportunity to sample the life of a GP. You have more
responsibility and autonomy having your own appointments and
clinics with distant senior supervision. Both of these experiences
allowed me to develop my interest of a career in general practice
and I would encourage anyone interested in becoming a GP to utilise
these opportunities to decide if this is indeed the career for
them.
By the end of my foundation programme I had
decided wholeheartedly on a career in general practice and this put
me in good stead for the new challenging application process.
The selection assessment
consisted
of general medical questions and then a series of ethical dilemmas.
You are then invited for an interview at the deanery of
appointment and the offer of a job would follow depending on your
performance at interview, and subject to F2 completion.
Throughout the application process
I
was staggered at how popular and competitive general practice had
become. Many of the candidates were more senior
and, in several cases, much more
academic than me, with many of them possessing post graduate
qualifications. It is testament to my appointment
however, that academia is not exclusively at the forefront of
selection criteria. The process is designed to choose candidates
who will be good GPs, as it is employment specific and judging by
the colleagues who I have met since the start of my training, it
has been a success.
The training for a general practitioner
consists generally, of six, four month placements over a period of
two years. This allows for a wide range of specialities to be
covered and although the VTS training programmes are fixed there is
some flexibility to allow you to cover any area you are
specifically interested in. There are a number of different exams
or diplomas that you are encouraged to undertake by the college
while in your hospital training. GP VTS training days, covering
specifically areas of GP interest are part of the curriculum and
have to be attended. You also have a chance to meet your colleagues
at these days and your educational supervisor who will help guide
and advise you through your training.
Your training ends with a year as a GP
registrar where you are within a practice with your own patients
and clinics. You will also sit your MRCGP within this year and this
will allow an appointment as a fully qualified GP within a
practice.
In summary, I am very pleased with my choice
of vocation and even more thrilled to have been selected. GPVTS
training has a strong, fair selection process that gives everyone
who applies a chance. Despite its competitiveness, the benefits of
being on a structured training programme with general practice at
its core, outweigh the initial struggle and stresses of
application. Once you are on a training programme the support you
receive and the range of specialties you have an opportunity to
experience, make the whole scheme exciting and enjoyable, and this
is all before you even set foot in a practice!"
Dr Sanjedah Zaro.
Bromley GPVTS Scheme.