Curricula and assessment systems archive

Guidance on sub-specialty protocol

Important guidance (pdf) covers the recognition and decommissioning of sub-specialty training. These are sub-specialties of main specialty training, which leads to the award of a Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT). 

To set this in context, a doctor can have sub-specialty training indicated against his/her name in the Specialist Register, along with the main CCT specialty if he/she convinces the GMC that he/she has satisfactorily completed sub-specialty training approved by the GMC (or by PMETB, the predecessor body). A number of sub-specialties continue to be recognised by following their approval by PMETB’s predecessor, the Specialist Training Authority. A list of these is available here.

If, however, the need for recognition of a new sub-specialty arises, or a sub-specialty currently recognised by the GMC is no longer required, the relevant medical Royal College or Faculty can apply to the GMC to either add or remove a sub-specialty from the recognised list. The guidance specifies the process steps which must be taken before recognition or decommission can be approved.

Information on uncoupling of training

PMETB, the GMC’s predecessor body, issued clarification and a definition of its position on the proposed uncoupling of specialty training. This was issued as a letter to the medical Royal College Presidents in November 2007. The letter may be viewed in full. (pdf)

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Trainees appointed to specialist training programmes in 2006 and earlier

The GMC inherited the approved curricula for Specialist Registrars from its predecessors. There are trainees who were appointed up to and until December 2006 as Specialist Registrars (SpRs), General Practice Registrars (GPRs) and Public Health Medicine Specialist Trainees (SpTs), who follow the curricula relating to those training programmes. These trainees will also follow the guidance in the Department of Health’s The Guide to Specialist Registrar Training (the ’Orange Book’, published February 1998). This Guide explains in detail exactly what trainees can expect at various stages of their SpR training programmes, from entering the grade, through the assessment process, up to the conclusion of training and then leaving the grade.

GP Registrars will follow the Department of Health’s The GP Registrar Scheme Vocational Training for General Medical Practice, the UK Guide (the ’Green Book’, published March 2000). This guidance contains the arrangements for the GP Registrar Scheme, the system of vocational training for general practice in the United Kingdom which is designed to take doctors to the point where they are 'suitably experienced' to work in general practice.

Therefore, there will still be SpRs on specialist training programmes who are being awarded the Record of In-Training Assessment (RITA) until the end of their training, and the Orange Book still applies to them. The Green Book applies to GPRs who will receive VTR forms (Vocational Training Regulation) which are Statements of Satisfactory Completion of Training for hospital posts approved for GP training and for GP Registrar training.

Terms applicable to Specialist Registrar trainees are:  

• Specialist training;
• Specialist Registrars (SpRs), General Practice Registrars (GPRs) and Public Health Medicine Specialist Trainees (SpTs);
• The Guide to Specialist Registrar Training (the ’Orange Book’) and The GP Registrar Scheme Vocational Training for General Medical Practice, The UK Guide (the ’Green Book’) for specialist training; and
• Record of in-training assessment (RITA) and Vocational Training Regulation (VTR) forms. 

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Under the new CCT specialty curricula (effective from August 2007)

The approved, definitive CCT curricula and associated assessment systems for specialty and general practice training were approved by PMETB, the GMC’s predecessors in 2006. These curricula make reference to previously used terms such as RITA and Specialist Registrars. However, the new terms as described in the Department of Health’s A Guide to Postgraduate Specialty Training in the UK (the ’Gold Guide’) replace these terms for trainees appointed to the programmes from 1 August 2007 as follows: 

New terms are in bold

• Specialist training is now referred to as specialty training.
• Specialist Registrar (SpR) is now referred to as Specialty Registrar (StR) through all years of the training programme and is applicable to all specialty (including GP) trainees.
• A Guide to Postgraduate Specialty Training in the UK (the ’Gold Guide’) is applicable to all specialty including GP training.
• Record of in-training assessment (RITA) and VTR forms have now been replaced by the Annual Review of Competence Progression (ARCP).

The A Reference Guide for Postgraduate Specialty Training (3rd edition) in the UK (the ’Gold Guide’) and updated Core Training Supplement have been published on the MMC website. They set out the arrangements for specialty training and are applicable to trainees taking up appointments, which commence on or after 5 August 2009.