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GP education is an exciting field. From the moment
you decide you want to be a GP until the day that
you retire, you will have the support of
enthusiastic GP teachers who's job it is to give you
high quality education.
Becoming a GP
The traditional route: the GP Vocational Training
Scheme (GPVTS)
To become a GP, you need to have done:
four 6-month (or six 4-month) ST posts, of which
some must be in "core" posts like:
A&E
O&G
general medicine/geriatrics
general surgery/orthopaedics
paediatrics
psychiatry;
12 months as a GP Registrar in an approved training
practice.
Every Deanery has a selection of GPVTS, which are
advertised in the BMJ once or twice a year. You can
see details of the Bath GPVTS here.
During this time, you will have the support and
backing of a GP Course Organiser - I'm the one that
does that in Bath. There is also regular day (or
half-day) release course for GP-specific teaching.
See our VTS timetable as an example.
"Own scheme" doctors
Another possibility is to build your own selection
of training posts:
you will need to have two "core" posts (as above);
check that all the posts are approved for GP
training;
some non-UK posts may count towards GP training,
though this can take a while and isn't always
successful;
end your own scheme with twelve months as a GP
Registrar, known as a "stand-alone" post as it's not
part of a VTS.
However, at the time of writing (January 2007), it
looks as if this option will close, and everyone
will need to do a formal 3-year scheme.
To get a copy of the training regulations and to
find out how much of your experience counts towards
GP training, contact the Postgraduate Medical
Education and Training Board.
The PMETB is responsible for issuing GPs with the
Certificate of Prescribed/Equivalent Experience.
This is needed before you can work independently as
a GP.
Contact:
PMETB, Hercules House, Hercules Road, London SE1 7DU
Telephone: + 44 (0)20 7160 6100
Fax: +44 (0)20 7261 6101
http://www.pmetb.org.uk/ or e-mail info@pmetb.org.uk
Again, getting GP Registrar posts funded can be a
problem. We often don't know until the last minute
how many posts we will be able to offer.
The GP Registrar year
To become a GP, you need to do at least 12 months as
a GP Registrar (GPR) in an approved training
practice.
Almost all doctors love their GPR year. They have:
- a GP Trainer who dedicates up to two sessions to
helping them learn;
- their own consulting room;
- a well-planned induction;
- lots of protected teaching time;
- supernumerary status;
- a super weekly Day Release Course.
See information about the Bath area training
practices.
The exams
At present, everyone needs to pass a 4-part
assessment of fitness for independent practice
("Summative Assessment") before they can work as a
GP. Typically, this comprises:
- an MCQ;
- an audit;
- a video of 10 consultations;
- a formal Trainer's report.
The good news is that 95% pass first time.
The MRCGP exam is taken by most GPs during or just
after ending their GPR year. Many of our GP
Registrars say that working for it has changed their
whole approach to their work - for the better.
However, all this will change soon - for doctors
starting their GP Registrar year from August 2007,
the new MRCGP exam (nMRCGP) will take over as the
system for summative assessment.
Tying it all up
To get a 'Certificate of Prescribed/Equivalent
Experience' from the PMETB, you will need a
"Statement of Satisfactory Completion" for each
educationally recognised post.
VTR/2 forms signed and stamped by each of your
Consultants upon satisfactory completion of hospital
posts and countersigned by the Director of
Postgraduate Education for General Practice, (in
Bath's case at Winchester, see Who's Who).
VTR/1 form signed by your GP Trainer upon
satisfactory completion of the GP year and
countersigned by the Director of Postgraduate
Education for General Practice on passing Summative
Assessment.
You can download these forms here:
for SHO posts:
http://www.sevwesdeanery.nhs.uk/Docs/gpshovtr2_1105.doc
for GPR posts:
http://www.sevwesdeanery.nhs.uk/Docs/gprvtr1_1105.doc
You can get more information at our becoming a GP
page.
Continuing Medical Education
Once working as a GP, you will have the support of
your local GP Tutor. This GP oversees Continuing
Medical Education (CME) by arranging:
- workshops and lectures
- occasional residential study courses
- yearly appraisals (these are done by fellow GPs).
Most practices also organise in-house teaching. For
example, at my practice we have:
- weekly coffee meetings for clinical discussion;
- monthly protected learning afternoon;
- regular seminars and journal clubs.
Some GPs take prolonged study leave, to help study
or complete a postgraduate degree. Recently I was
funded to work for a Masters in Medical Education.
It was hard work, but a lot of fun - and very useful
in my GP Educator role.
So, what's the down side?
I'm passionate about GP education, so I have
difficulty finding a down side here.
As a GP, you'll never know enough and you'll spend
the rest of your life learning - the thought of that
can be quite daunting.
Written by: Michael Harris
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This page was last updated on:
26 January 2008
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