Specialty specific guidance for Allergy

The current Allergy curriculum was published in July 2021. For a transition period, you can make a Portfolio pathway application against either the current curriculum or the previous version.

This option is available until the transition deadline of 31 July 2024.

Specialty specific guidance

We’ve produced guidance documents for each version of the curriculum with the Joint Royal Colleges of Physicians Training Board.

• Allergy 2021

How to apply

You can apply through your GMC Online account. There is one application form which includes sections for both versions of the curricula. You should tell us which curriculum version you wish to be assessed against in sequence one. And only provide evidence in the sections of the application relevant to your curriculum.

2021 curriculum

Our standards for postgraduate medical curricula are Excellence by design and the framework for Generic professional capabilities. These help postgraduate medical training programmes focus trainee assessment away from an exhaustive list of individual competencies, towards fewer broad capabilities needed to practise safely from your first day as a consultant.

As a result, the 2021 physicianly curricula are outcomes based. This means trainees will be assessed against the fundamental capabilities required of consultants in the working week. These include the general skills which all doctors need to have as well as those needed to carry out all the specific day to day tasks undertaken by a consultant physician (Capabilities in Practice – CiPs).

There are two new training pathways in Allergy and Immunology:

• Allergy and Clinical Immunology – this clinical pathway will continue to be named Allergy until a legal name change is approved.
• Allergy, Clinical and Laboratory Immunology – this combined clinical and laboratory pathway will continue to be named Immunology until a legal name change is approved.

The new clinical pathway has emerged from the existing Allergy curriculum and clinical components of the Immunology curriculum. The combined clinical and laboratory pathway includes all the capabilities in the clinical pathway plus capabilities in leading the laboratories.

The Allergy curriculum is made up six Generic CiPs which are common to all physicianly specialties and six Specialty CiPs unique to Allergy.

In Allergy, two years Internal Medicine Training will replace Core Medical Training as the core training programme. Applicants will be required to demonstrate maintenance of relevant Internal Medicine Stage 1 capabilities (including MRCP).

Content shared between all physicianly specialties

There are six CiPs which are shared between all physicianly specialties:

• CiP 1 – Able to function successfully within NHS organisational and management systems
• CiP 2 – Able to deal with ethical and legal issues related to clinical practice
• CiP 3 – Communicates effectively and is able to share decision making, while maintaining appropriate situational awareness, professional behaviour and professional judgement
• CiP 4 – Is focused on patient safety and delivers effective quality improvement in patient care
• CiP 5 – Carrying out research and managing data appropriately
• CiP 6 – Acting as a clinical teacher and clinical supervisor

Specialty specific content

There are six specialty CiPs for Allergy

• CiP 1 – Managing, developing, and delivering allergy services in all appropriate service settings
• CiP 2 – Managing, developing, and delivering clinical immunology services in all appropriate service settings
• CiP 3 – Providing advice to colleagues on selection, interpretation and limitations of laboratory and other investigations for common immunological and allergic conditions
• CiP 4 – Supporting the management of patients with allergy, immunodeficiency and autoimmune disease, and auto-inflammatory disease, in liaison with other specialties including primary care
• CiP 5 – Delivering and supporting both immune-mediated and other therapeutic interventions in allergic and immunological conditions
• CiP 6 – Understanding the needs of adolescents and young adults with immunological and allergic diseases transitioning to adulthood 

Assessment tools

A new knowledge test has been introduced – the Allergy and Clinical Immunology Certificate (ACICE) (this exam is currently known as the FRC Path Part 1).

Changes in knowledge and skills

Clinical components of Immunology have been added to the curriculum and will be tested in the ACICE examination. Core training in Paediatrics with MRCPCH will be accepted as an alternative to Internal Medicine with MRCP.