About this guidance

The General Medical Council (GMC) has a statutory duty to make sure that postgraduate medical education and training prepares doctors, physician associates (PAs) and anaesthesia associates (AAs) to deliver good, safe patient care across the UK. One of the ways we do this is by setting standards and approving curricula and assessments for specialty training.

As part of our applications process for approving changes to curricula and assessments against our standards, we check that royal colleges or faculties have consulted with appropriate key groups and considered the effect of making the changes on patients, doctors, PAs, AAs, and the UK health service. Requirement CR2.6 of Excellence by design states:

‘Organisations must demonstrate that they meet their legal obligations under equality legislation and that they have considered equality, diversity and fairness in the development of the curricula and programme of assessment.’

We ask that an equality impact assessment (EIA) is included with all applications for changes to curricula and assessments. This practical guidance is aimed at royal college and faculty staff and provides a framework for completing meaningful EIAs and ensuring compliance with the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED). It is supplementary to the requirements in Excellence by design.