Closed consultations

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

We also considered national procedures and the policy implications of:

1. Shared questions in the examinations set by medical schools; or
2. 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. Guidance on student fitness to practise
2. Revising Tomorrow's Doctors to embed fitness to practise
3. Reviewing QABME with a view to promoting effective student fitness to practise arrangements
4. The development of mechanisms to share information between medical schools and the GMC

We also considered national procedures and the policy implications of:

1. The GMC advising medical schools on individual cases in local student fitness to practise procedures or
2. 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)