Specialty specific guidance for CESR in Medical Ophthalmology

Published 6 July 2021

The new Medical Ophthalmology curriculum was published in June 2021.

The deadline for CESR applications to apply against the previous version of the curriculum was 30 June 2023. Any CESR applications submitted after this date will be assessed against the new curriculum. 

Specialty specific guidance

The Joint Royal Colleges of Physicians Training Board and GMC have produced guidance for the evidence expected for your application:

How to apply

You can apply through your GMC Online account.

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).

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

In Medical Ophthalmology, 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

The Medical Ophthalmology capabilities in practice (CiPs) describe the professional tasks or work within the scope of the specialty.

  • CiP 1 - Managing and leading a multidisciplinary medical ophthalmology team, including management of an outpatient clinic and injection list
  • CiP 2 - Diagnosis and management of acute medical ophthalmology emergencies
  • CiP 3 - Diagnosis and management of patients with medical ophthalmic conditions, including those with complex conditions, long term conditions and those on immunosuppressants
  • CiP 4 - Managing perioperative care of medical ophthalmological patients
  • CiP 5 - Competent in all procedural skills for medical ophthalmology as defined by the curriculum
  • CiP 6 - Managing medical, ethical and social issues of visual impairment

Assessment tools

The Refraction Certificate has been removed; however you could still use this to demonstrate competency in refraction.

Curriculum updates to Portfolio pathway applications

The curricula for your specialty might be due for an update. This will impact the evidence you need to provide for your application. Read more about what this means for you.
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