Education - closed consultations

Review of Tomorrow's Doctors

The review of Tomorrow's Doctors considered whether requirements set out in the 2003 edition were still relevant and appropriate and took account of developments in educational theory, research and professional practice.

A formal consultation was open from 15 December 2008 to 27 March 2009. The GMC held meetings in all four countries of the UK with key interest groups. A UK-wide consultative conference was held on 2 March 2009.

For more information about the review and the consultation see the report to the GMC in July 2009.

Student Fitness to Practise consultation

The GMC and the Medical Schools Council (MSC) consulted on revised guidance, Medical students: professional behaviour and fitness to practise, and other options proposed to promote consistency in student fitness to practise.

This guidance was published first in 2007 after an extensive period of consultation. We have now amended the guidance to take account of the full scope of fitness to practise issues including health and student support.

The purpose of this consultation is to seek views on:

1. a. Amendments to the guidance, including advice on health, student support and using the threshold and sanctions.
2. b. The additional options proposed to support medical schools in developing robust and consistent fitness to practise procedures.
3. c. Opportunities to engage and influence students about their professional values and behaviours.

The consultation ran from 27 June 2008 to 19 September 2008 and is now closed.

Read the paper presented to Council in December 2008 about the consultation. (42kb, pdf).

Read the revised guidance

Strategic proposals for student assessment

In the informal document on assessment, we set out a number of ways in which local arrangements could be improved:

1. a. Making the external examiner system more robust
2. b. Reviewing QABME with a view to promoting effective assessment
3. c. Revising Tomorrow's Doctors to promote effective assessment
4. d. Pursuing more specific outcomes and curricular requirements
5. e. Identifying the outcomes and curricular requirements that can be assessed through shared systems

We also considered national procedures and the policy implications of:

1. a. Shared questions in the examinations set by medical schools; or
2. b. A national examination, success in which could be a condition for graduation and provisional registration

Download : Strategic proposal for assessment (120kb, pdf)

Strategic proposals for student fitness to practise

In the informal document on student fitness to practise, we set out a number of ways in which local arrangements could be improved:

1. a. Guidance on student fitness to practise
   b. Revising Tomorrow's Doctors to embed fitness to practise
   c. Reviewing QABME with a view to promoting effective student fitness to practise arrangements
   d. The development of mechanisms to share information between medical schools and the GMC

We also considered national procedures and the policy implications of:

1. a. The GMC advising medical schools on individual cases in local student fitness to practise procedures or
   b. The GMC acting as a backstop when the local procedures fail to protect patients, which could involve a UK-wide register of medical students.

Download : Strategic proposal for student fitness to practise (123kb, pdf)

Guidance on student fitness to practise - with the Medical Schools Council

The GMC and the Medical Schools Council (formerly the Council of Heads of Medical Schools) established a joint working group in 2005 to determine principles and arrangements through which universities and the GMC can confirm the fitness to practise of students and graduates. Joint guidance was developed and the formal consultation period ran from January to April 2007.

• Read the consultation draft of the guidance (170kb, pdf)
• Read the consultation questions (96kb, pdf)
• Read the final version of the guidance, Medical students: professional behaviour and fitness to practise

Strategic options for undergraduate medical education consultation

The GMC consulted on strategic options for undergraduate education in summer 2005. The final report on the outcomes of the strategic options consultation is available below.

It sets out the general themes and opinions that emerged from the three streams of the consultation. It consists of a summary report on the consultation and a qualitative analysis by external researchers on the written responses.

In general, there was support for:

• Developing a more robust assessment system in the UK
• Developing more consistency in student fitness to practise in the UK
• Considering the balance between clinical and non-technical knowledge and skills in Tomorrow's Doctors
• Reinforcing many of the themes in the undergraduate curriculum such as patient-centredness and interprofessional learning in practical settings
• Developing effective educational mechanism to prepare students to deal with uncertainty

Download the Strategic Outcomes Final Report (0.92mb, pdf)