Expectations for planning and management of risks and issues

Organisations must have reasonable measures in place to prevent issues that compromise the integrity of exams from occurring. These should include quality checks, guidance and regular training for examiners, appropriate orientation material for candidates, and advance testing of network capacity and the platform/software for delivery of remote exams.

While many events cannot be predicted, organisations should hold risk registers that are regularly reviewed and updated and have contingency plans for handling significant issues with exam delivery.

Organisations must report significant issues to us immediately. Significant issues are defined as those that affect any of the following:

• The standard of the exam (CR4.1f).
• The integrity of the exam.
• The pass/fail result of candidates.
• Doctor or patient safety, eg a doctor may be inadvertently practising beyond their level of capability.
• Fairness to candidates.
• The progression of doctors through their training programme.

Organisations should contact us at quality@gmc-uk.org to report a significant issue and include the following details.

• A brief description of what has happened and why, if known.
• Whether the issue is already in the public domain.
• The number of affected candidates, including how many are currently in UK training.
• The proposed solution and, where relevant, the results of any modelling of results to show the impact on UK-based candidates.
• Mitigating actions to prevent the issue from happening again.

An incident reporting form is available in GMC Connect for use by Royal Colleges, Faculties and other organisations.

We will treat all such notifications as urgent and confidential. Notifying affected candidates that there has been an issue will be a priority, however, please do not do so or publish exam results (if you haven’t already) until we have discussed this with you. We will advise if further approval is required for your proposed approach.

Safety of patients is of paramount importance when determining how an issue should be handled, as well as fairness for candidates across diets and impact on the health service.

Organisations must not change the approved standard setting method temporarily. This includes the temporary use of conjunctive standards, such as the addition or subtraction of one standard error of measurement to the pass mark.

Incorrect pass/fail results must be rectified. In cases where doctors who have been unsuccessful in the examination have been told in error that they have passed, colleges should consider the risks to doctors and to patient safety, for example as a result of doctors passing through a critical progression point and practising beyond their level of competence.

Consideration must be given to the impact any adverse events have on candidate wellbeing.