Chronology of The RCGP by Subject

Membership & Examination


 
19 Nov 1952
 
Foundation of the College of General Practitioners as an unincorporated association at 14 Blackfriars Lane, London EC4 [The Society of Apothecaries].
 
1st Jan 1953
 
Foundation membership opened. Membership was at first restricted to doctors in the Medical Register who had been i) 20 years in general practice or its equivalent as a general medical officer or ii) 5 years in general practice and who gave an undertaking to accept postgraduate instruction for the equivalent of three days a year or five and a half days every two years or iii) 5 years in general practice and who possessed a higher postgraduate degree or diploma.
The entrance fee was 10 guineas.
 
 
Sep 1954
 
 
Membership recorded as 2,967 (2539 members and 428 associates).
 
 
20 Nov 1954
 
Examination committee founded "to give full and detailed study to an examination as a possible method of entry to Membership of the College…".
 
 
1957
 
Proposals that all members and associates should undertake continuing education to maintain their membership.
 
1962 Proposal that all newly qualified doctors be invited to join the College as Associates
 
Nov
1964
 
 
In a reversal of past policy it was agreed that Members could use the initials M.C.G.P.
 
 
1 Nov 1965
 
 
First College examination.
 
 
1966
 
Diploma working party
 
 
1966
 
Committee on Fellowship founded
 
 
Nov 1967
 
 
Resolved that all applicants for membership must sit an examination.
 
 
1967
 
Fellowship nomination committee formed.
 
 
1969
 
Committee on Fellowship proposals to widen criteria [JRCGP 1969, 18, 50)
 
1970 GMC agreed that MRCGP & FRCGP become registrable qualifications
 
1972
 
Establishment of Fraser Rose gold medal for the most outstanding candidate in membership examination.
 
March 1972  Advanced course in General Practice [two week course – 20 sessions - for MRCGP candidates who had been principles in general practice for 5 years but had not had vocational training)
 
1976
 
Joint Board of Censors and Education policy paper on "Hospital posts recognised for the MRCGP examination"
 
June 1976 MRCGP Exam orals held in Edinburgh as well as London
 
1978
 
"The College, it seems, should take a far more lively interest in helping established general practitioners, especially members, regularly to review their competence and thereby become better doctors. More emphasis on clinical practice, continuing education which is relevant to the everyday work of general practice, and a commitment to the idea that the individual doctor should be prepared to have his worked regularly assessed by his peers, are the main inter-linked parts of this theme. Not surprisingly therefore, there is a powerful ground swell of opinion in favour of strengthening the faculties…" Ekke Kuenssberg
 
 
1981
 
What Sort of Doctor Working party reported on methods of assessing clinical competence, accessibility, ability to communicate and professional values. They suggested that this information could be used as an incentive to members continuing education and professional development, as a method of formal reaccreditation of existing members of the college, as an alternative to the present mechanism for election to Fellowship of the College, as an alternative entry requirement for Membership of the College particularly for established principals and as a test for the relevance of contemporary education. [see later What Sort of Doctor Working parties].
 
 
1982
 
Second What Sort of Doctor working party set up to test the first What Sort of Working Party [see 1981] method of performance review under field conditions – in the Merseyside and South East Thames faculties under the supervision of the College’s Stuart Fellow.
 
 
1982
 
First Members Reference Book
 
 
1983
 
Interim report of Second What Sort of Doctor Working Party
 
 
1984
 
New developments section of Membership division "to identify and contact trainees within the general practice element of their training and to encourage them to participate as associates with the activities of the College."
 
1984 Traditional Essay Question Paper [TEQ] replaced by Practice Topic Questions Paper [PTQ] in the MRCGP exam
 
1989
 
Fellowship by Assessment scheme founded.
 
1990  
Nov 1991

Motion at AGM "The Welsh Faculties urge that the Royal College of General Practitioners should mark the 40th anniversary of the College by requiring Council to consider, as a matter of urgency, alternative routes to membership"

 

1990

Publication of "Examination for Membership of the Royal College of General Practitioners [MRCGP]" [Occasional Paper 46] - a comprehensive overview of the examination, its development and future trends.

 

Dec 1992

 

Agreement to waive membership fees for doctors doing VSO.

April 1993

 

Fellowship by Assessment devolved to Vale of Trent Faculty

 

Aug 1994

 

First College membership card

 

1995
MAP scheme pilot .
 

1997

Family Medicine Residency Training Scheme in Pakistan was accredited, after a visit by Drs Iona Heath and Steve Bell, for sitting the MRCGP with provisos concerning the relevance and nature of the College's examination for Pakistani candidates.

 

Mar 1997

 

Third, revised edition of The MRCGP Examination published. Edited by Richard Moore.

 

May 1998

MRCGP examination changed to modular format comprising of two written papers [replacing multiple choice, modified essay and critical reading question papers]; an oral and an assessment of consulting sills by submission of 15 minute recorded consultations for the majority, but with the alternative of a simulated surgery in approved circumstances]. Another change was that candidates had three years to complete the examination so they did not need to take all four modules at the same sitting and were allowed a maximum of three attempts at each module.

 

May 1998

 

"The First Hundred Fellows by Assessment" by Richard Moore published

 

1999

Dr Susan Love first  member of the College through MAP [Membership by Assessment of Performance].

 This scheme founded in 1999 allowed experienced GPs who could show evidence of good quality practice to become members of the College through an assessment of their performance rather than by sitting the College’s membership examination. MAP consisted of three separate elements which had to be passed in turn: video assessment or simulated surgery ; a portfolio of written evidence and a practice visit.

(the scheme closed in 2006 and was replaced by iMap)

April 1999

 

 

FBA

[Fellowship by Assessment of Performance] opened to non-principals

(FBA closed in 2006)

Sep 2000

JCPTGP [Joint committee on postgraduate training for general practice] agree that a video can be submitted as part of MRCGP examination summative assessment element.

 

January 2001

 

Publication of booklet Benefits of Membership

 

2001

Dr Susan Love first  member of the College through MAP [Membership by Assessment of Performance]. This scheme founded in 1999 allowed experienced GPs who could show evidence of good quality practice to become members of the College through an assessment of their performance rather than by sitting the College’s membership examination. MAP consisted of three separate elements which had to be passed in turn: video assessment or simulated surgery ; a portfolio of written evidence and a practice visit.

Oct 2001

MRCGP [INT] launched - an international assessment to accredit locally developed assessment throughout the world - pilot projects in Brunei, Kuwait, Egypt and Oman.

 

Feb 2003

 

Membership of the College reached 20,000

Nov 2003 Change in the performance criteria for the video element of MRCGP exam: The language in the new criteria is explicit and outlines achievable goals throughout. Candidates are asked to choose a set of seven consultations which they consider best demonstrate their competence according to the new criteria. The submission will continue to require one consultation with a child under ten years of age and one consultation with a significant social or psychological dimension. A new Merit PC which seeks to elicit the patient�s understanding of prescribed medicines and to address any obstacles to following an agreed course of treatment. Merit will also be judged by a new PC based on a response to signals/cues leading to a deeper understanding of the problem.

Oct 2005

Lynne Wright becomes 100th successful candidate to gain her MRCGP via MAP

 

1 April 2006

Unifed route to Fellowship becomes sole way of becoming Fellow replacing the two routes previously available – Fellowship by Assessment (FBA) and Fellowship by Nomination (FBN).

Members of more that five continuous years able to self nominate for Fellowship based upon a portfoliio of evidence in any or all of the six achievement categories [leadership, patient-centred practice, teaching and education, academic and research, innovation and creativity, clinical practice].
 
July 2006

iMap pilot started with 127 candidates (72 producing portfolios). The aim was to assess a portfolio based scheme, which separated the individual from the practice, and provided a membership route for  registered GPs, in the context of the introduction of nMRCGP

 

August 2006

Appointment of David Sales as first Medical Director of Assessment to be responsible for the conduct, delivery and quality assurance of the College's new entry exam, the nMRCGP (to be rolled out in 2007)

 

Sep 2006 New membership database using integra
Aug 2007 AiT (Associates in Training) Membership package launched
Aug 2007 Applications for e-portfolio for nMRCGP open
Sep 2007 Student Forum Launched
31 Oct 2007 The first live AKT [Applied Knowledge Test] was sat on 31 October by 1303 candidates at Pearson VUE centres around the UK.
25 Nov 2007  Launch of version2 of  the E-portfolio for nMRCGP
March 2009 A Guide to the CSA: Series 2 DVD published by Wessex Faculty

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