Bolton and Wigan GP VTS

• Introduction
  to GPSTP
• Bolton
  GPSTP
• Wigan
  GPSTP
• Day
  Release
• Training
  Practices
• Course
  Information

Introduction to GP Speciality Training in Bolton and Wigan

Welcome to the Bolton and Wigan GP Speciality Training website. This website is primarily for people who have decided they would like to do speciality training for general practice, and are looking for information regarding GP speciality training within the Bolton and Wigan area.

Through GP speciality training in Bolton and Wigan we aim to give you the knowledge and skills to help you become a proficient general practitioner. We hope the education and training we provide is interesting and fun. We aim to base much of our teaching on your experience, both in hospital and in general practice. We commonly use group work and reflective study to meet this aim, and hope that through this you will develop the skills for life long learning and continuing professional development.

The site contains:

• Information on the Bolton GP Speciality Training Programme
• Information on the Wigan GP Speciality Training Programme
• Information about the Bolton and Wigan joint Day Release Course which takes place during the GP Registrar (ST3) year
• GP training practices within Bolton and Wigan
• Useful contacts, links and addresses

There is also some general information below about vocational training for general practice and nMRCGP, the end-point examination which needs to be passed to qualify to work as a general practitioner.

Applications for posts on the Wigan and Bolton Speciality Training Programmes are made through the North Western deanery and national appointments process. This process starts in January each year for doctors to start in post the following August. Doctors are only appointed onto the schemes through this process and applications will not be accepted in any other way. If you would like some general information about training for general practice and the appointments process please visit the following websites:

• National Recruitment Office for General Practice Training (www.gprecruitment.org.uk)
• North West Deanery Department of Postgraduate Medicine and Dentistry (www.nwpgmd.nhs.uk/genprac/gphome.html)

Dr Pollard is available to give careers advice to doctors working or living in or local to Wigan, and to discuss the Wigan GPSTP with doctors interested in the scheme. Similarly, Dr Brown is available to give careers advice to doctors working or living in or local to Bolton, and to discuss the Bolton GPSTP with doctors interested in the scheme.

An Outline of the Required Training Programme for General Practice Training

To give an overview of what you will need to achieve to complete training for general practice here are short summaries of:

1. The required training programme for general practice (vocational training)
2. nMRCGP

An Outline of the Required Training Programme

The regulations for GP training and certification have recently changed. The General and Specialist Medical Practice (Medical Education, Training and Qualifications) Order 2003 came into force on 30th September 2005.

On this date the Vocational Training Regulations were revoked and the functions of the Joint Committee on Postgraduate Training for General Practice (JCPTGP) and the Specialist Training Authority of the Medical Royal Colleges (STA) were taken over by the Postgraduate Medical Education and Training Board (PMETB).

In line with the arrangements already in place for the other specialties in medicine, and on behalf of the PMETB, the Royal College of General Practitioners has taken on responsibility for the evaluation of general practice training under Article 10 of the Order.

There are two routes for certification:

• Prescribed Experience (CCT route under the PMETB Order)
• Certificate of Equivalent Experience (Article 11 Route under the PMETB Order)

Prescribed Experience (CCT route under the PMETB Order)

This is the route for doctors who are following the three year training programme in the UK. The posts must be prospectively approved for training and the training programme must meet the current training curriculum.

Trainees must:

• Complete specialist training in general practice totalling not less than three years full time employment, or the equivalent part time, in posts/programmes approved by the PMETB or the JCPTGP.
• Complete all three years' training within the seven-year period immediately preceding the date of formal application for a certificate.
• Pass all components of nMRCGP

The three year programme must include:

• at least 12 months full time employment (or its equivalent part time) as a GP Registrar, under the supervision of an approved trainer
• at least 12 months full time employment (or the equivalent part time) in hospital training posts approved for GP training in relevant hospital specialties. The mix of specialities in which an applicant has trained is important and all applicants are expected to demonstrate that they have trained in a range of specialties relevant to their future career as a GP. Specifically, the applicant must have completed:
  1. no less than six months in each of two of the following List A specialities or;
  2. no less than four months in each of three of the following List A specialities or;
  3. no less than three months in each of four of the following List A specialties:

  List A

  • Accident and emergency medicine;
  • Paediatrics or community paediatrics;
  • General medicine;
  • or geriatrics or dermatology or GU medicine or rehabilitation medicine;
  • Gynaecology or Obstetrics/gynaecology;
  • Psychiatry or old age psychiatry;
  • Palliative medicine;

  12 months is the maximum time that will be accepted in any one of the List A specialities.

  If the overall programme is balanced, the Board will also accept training up to a maximum of six months (or its equivalent part time) in each of the following specialties:

  List B

  • Cardiology or medical oncology or clinical oncology or gastroenterology or endocrinology and diabetes mellitus or haematology or nephrology or respiratory medicine or rheumatology or neurology or infectious diseases;
  • child and adolescent psychiatry or psychiatry of learning disability;
  • Ophthalmology or ENT or ENT surgery or General surgery or paediatric surgery or urology or trauma and orthopaedic surgery or trauma/orthopaedics;
  • Intensive therapy;
  • Public health medicine;

Certificate of Equivalent Experience (Article 11 Route under the PMETB Order)

This is the route for any doctor whose training does not meet all the requirements of the UK training programme leading towards the award of a CCT but believes they meet the standards required of a UK GP. For example:

• Some training was undertaken abroad.
• Some or all of the UK posts were not prospectively approved for training.
• The applicant has not passed summative assessment in the UK.
• The applicant has no UK training.

Any doctor who falls into this category should apply to PMETB for equivalence (via Article 11).

Please look at the:

• the PMETB website (www.pmetb.org.uk) and follow the links for the GP training
• the RCGP webite (www.rcgp.org.uk/the_gp_journey/certification.aspx) for the full details about certification.

nMRCGP

For information about the nMRCGP which will be the endpoint assessment for a CCT in general practice from August 2007 please look at the RCGP website (www.rcgp.org.uk/the_gp_journey/nmrcgp.aspx)

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Credits

This page was last updated on 7th January 2008. Website designed and maintained by Steve Bradburn © 2003-2008