The General and Specialist Medical Practice (Education, Training and Qualifications) Order 2003

PART 3 U.K. EDUCATION AND TRAINING

Education and training leading to the award of a Certificate of Completion of Training U.K.

4.—(1) Subject to paragraph (2), the Board shall from time to time establish the standards and requirements relating to postgraduate medical education and training necessary for the award of a CCT in general practice and in each of the specialties listed in Schedule 3.

(2) Standards and requirements established by the Board under paragraph (1) must comply with the minimum requirements for general practice and specialist training, set out in articles 5 and 6 respectively, but nothing in this Order shall prevent the Board from establishing additional requirements or higher standards under this article as it considers appropriate.

(3) The standards and requirements established under paragraph (1) shall be set out in rules.

(4) The standards and requirements established under paragraph (1) shall include—

(a) the standards required for entry to training;

(b) the education and training curriculum to be followed for general practice and for each specialty listed in Schedule 3;

(c) the outcomes to be achieved by that education and training, including the level of skill, knowledge and expertise required; and

(d) the methods of assessment of progress during and upon completion of that education and training.

(5) In performing the function mentioned in article 3(2)(b), the Board may approve—

(a) a course of postgraduate medical education and training (or part of such a course) which the Board is satisfied meets or would meet the standards and requirements established under paragraph (1);

(b) a programme of postgraduate medical education and training (or part of such a programme) which the Board is satisfied meets or would meet the standards and requirements established under paragraph (1);

(c) a training post which the Board is satisfied meets or would meet the standards and requirements established under paragraph (1);

(d) a general practitioner, whom the Board considers to be properly organised and equipped for providing the training specified in article 5(1)(c)(i);

(e) examinations, assessments or other tests of competence.

(6) In connection with paragraph (5), the Board may approve postgraduate medical education and training taking place outside the United Kingdom.

(7) In exercising its functions under paragraph (5), the Board may attach conditions to any approval it gives or has given including, if the Board considers appropriate, a period of time for which that approval is valid.

(8) The Board may at any time withdraw approval where it is satisfied that—

(a) any conditions imposed under paragraph (7); or

(b) any standards or requirements established under paragraph (1),

are not being met.

(9) The Board shall cause to be published from time to time (electronically or otherwise) a list of the education and training it has approved which shall specify—

(a) any course or programme (or part of such a course or programme), training post, general practitioner, examination, assessment or other test of competence that it has approved pursuant to paragraph (5);

(b) the date on which that approval was given;

(c) any conditions to which that approval is subject pursuant to paragraph (7);

(d) where relevant, the date on which that approval was withdrawn; and

(e) such other matters as the Board may specify in rules made under paragraph (10).

(10) The Board shall make rules about the procedure to be followed for giving, withdrawing, and attaching conditions to, approval under this article.

(11) Subject to the minimum requirements specified in articles 5 and 6, rules made under paragraph (10) may provide that of the categories specified in paragraph (5), only certain categories will be approved by the Board in respect of general practice or a specialty listed in Schedule 3.

Minimum requirements for general practice training U.K.

5.—(1) The minimum requirements for general practice training referred to in article 4(2) are that—

(a) the training shall comply with the requirements of article 31(1) of the Directive or, in the case of part-time training, article 31(1) together with article 34 (requirements for specific training in general practice);

(b) subject to paragraph (3), the training shall include at least three years in full-time employment, and shall be supervised by the Board; and

(c) the three year period specified in sub-paragraph (b) shall include—

(i) a period or periods amounting to at least 12 months employment as a GP Registrar which takes place with a general practitioner who has been approved by the Board for the purpose of providing training in accordance with article 4(5)(d), and

(ii) a period or periods amounting to at least 12 months employment in a post (or posts), in a specialty or specialties which the Board has prescribed for this purpose, that post or posts being in accordance with such other requirements as the Board may prescribe.

(2) Any period remaining under paragraph (1)(b), the minimum periods set out in paragraph (1)(c) having been met, shall consist of a period of employment in a post (or posts) falling within paragraph (1)(c)(i) or (ii).

(3) In relation to periods of part-time employment under paragraph (1)(c), the requirements of this article may be satisfied by periods of part-time employment of equivalent duration but it shall not be regarded as equivalent unless it includes at least two periods of full-time employment, each lasting not less than one week, one such period falling within paragraph (1)(c)(i), and one such period falling within paragraph (1)(c)(ii).

(4) A general practitioner who is approved by the Board under article 4(5)(d) for the purposes of providing training to a GP Registrar under paragraph (1)(c)(i) shall be known as a “GP Trainer”.

(5) “GP Registrar” means a medical practitioner who is being trained in general practice by a GP Trainer whether as part of training leading to the award of a CCT or otherwise.

(6) Schedule 4 (which sets out the text of articles 30, 31(1) and 34 of the Directive as it had effect on the date this Order was made) shall have effect.

Minimum requirements for specialist training U.K.

6.—(1) The minimum requirements for specialist training referred to in article 4(2) are that—

(a) the training must constitute an entire course of training in the specialty in question and must, subject to paragraph (2)—

(i) comprise theoretical and practical instruction,

(ii) be full-time training,

(iii) be supervised by the Board,

(iv) be in a university centre, in a teaching hospital or, where the Board is satisfied that it is appropriate, in a health establishment approved for this purpose by the Board,

(v) involve the personal participation of the medical practitioner training to be a specialist in the activity and in the responsibilities of the establishments concerned,

(vi) comply with the requirements of point 1 of Annex I to the Directive (the characteristics of the full-time training of specialists), and

(vii) be at least as long as the relevant period (if any) specified in Schedule 3.

(2) Part-time specialist training is permitted where training on a full-time basis would not be practicable for well-founded individual reasons, and accordingly, the Board may approve part-time training which satisfies—

(a) any conditions imposed by the Board;

(b) the conditions set out in paragraph (1)(a)(i), (iii), (iv) and (v);

(c) the following conditions—

(i) the standard of training must not be lower than that of full-time training,

(ii) the total length of training in the specialty in question must not be less than that of full-time training in the same specialty, and

(iii) the training must comply with the requirements of point 2 of Annex I to the Directive (the characteristics of the part-time training of specialists).

(3) Schedule 5 (which sets out the text of Annex I to the Directive as it had effect on the date this Order was made) shall have effect.

Visiting panels U.K.

7.—(1) The Board may, if it thinks fit, appoint a panel of persons (a “visiting panel”) to visit any hospital, institution, general practitioner or other person by whom, where or under whose direction or management—

(a) any postgraduate medical education or training leading to the award of a CCT is, or is proposed to be given;

(b) any sub-specialty training is, or is proposed to be given.

(2) A visiting panel must include at least one person who is not and never has been a registered medical practitioner and who does not hold any qualification that is registrable under the Medical Act.

(3) Where a visiting panel visits any hospital, institution, general practitioner or other person in the exercise of its functions under this article, it shall be the duty of the visiting panel to prepare a report to the Board on the visit.

(4) The Board shall, following a request by any person, make available such reports.

(5) Subject to the requirements of this article, the Board shall make rules in relation to visiting panels and such rules shall include provision as to—

(a) the composition of visiting panels;

(b) the areas or matters to be covered by a report to the Board under paragraph (3);

(c) the frequency with which visiting panels shall visit the persons or bodies specified in paragraph (1);

(d) the manner in which such visits are to be conducted;

(e) the payment of allowances to persons appointed to visiting panels, including the payment of allowances to employers of persons appointed to visiting panels for the purposes of enabling visitors to perform functions under this article; and

(f) the reimbursement of such expenses as persons appointed to visiting panels may reasonably have incurred in the course of the panel carrying out its functions under this article.

Award and withdrawal of a Certificate of Completion of Training U.K.

8.—(1) The Board shall award a CCT to any person who applies to the Board for that purpose (and pays any fee specified by the Board in rules) if the Board is satisfied that he has satisfactorily completed education and training, approved by the Board in accordance with article 4.

(2) A CCT may be awarded only to a registered medical practitioner, and a CCT in the specialty of oral and maxillo-facial surgery may be awarded only to a person who is also a registered dentist.

(3) Subject to paragraph (4), a CCT may be awarded only to a person who has been appointed to a course of training intended to lead to the award of a CCT and has successfully completed that course of training.

(4) Nothing in this article shall prevent the Board from awarding a CCT to a person when exercising its competent authority functions under article 8 of the Directive as set out in article 20(3)(a) of this Order.

(5) The Board may only award a CCT in general practice, or in a specialty listed in Schedule 3.

(6) A CCT shall state—

(a) the date on which it was awarded;

(b) that it was awarded in general practice, or, where applicable, in which specialty it was awarded;

(c) the name of its holder;

(d) his primary medical qualifications and where those qualifications were awarded; and

(e) his registration number in the register of medical practitioners kept by the Registrar of the GMC under section 2 of the Medical Act (establishment and maintenance of registers),

and where more than one year of the training to which the CCT attests took place outside the EEA, the CCT shall make clear that this was so, and shall state the length (in aggregate) of such training.

(7) A CCT shall be signed by the chair of the Board or by such other persons as the chair has nominated for this purpose.

(8) The Board shall make rules as to the procedure to be followed in relation to and by persons wishing to apply to the Board for a CCT, including rules as to the evidence it requires in support of an application for a CCT.

(9) Subject to paragraph (10), for the purposes of article 30 of the Directive (which requires EEA States to institute specific training in general practice), the vocational training certificate issued in the United Kingdom is the CCT in general practice.

(10) The following are also vocational training certificates—

(a) a certificate of prescribed experience; and

(b) a certificate of equivalent experience that has been annotated in accordance with regulation 12(7) of the Vocational Training Regulations, regulation 12(7) of the Vocational Training Regulations (Scotland) or regulation 12(7) of the Vocational Training Regulations (Northern Ireland) (which relate to certificate of equivalent experience).

(11) For the purposes of article 4 of the Directive, the diploma, certificate or other evidence of formal qualifications in specialised medicine in the United Kingdom is the CCT, awarded in a specialty listed in Schedule 3.

(12) Where the Board is satisfied that a CCT has been fraudulently procured or incorrectly awarded, it shall—

(a) direct that the CCT shall be withdrawn; and

(b) notify the GMC that it has withdrawn that person’s CCT.

Information to be provided to the Board U.K.

9.—(1) This article applies to any hospital, institution, general practitioner or other person that may be visited by a visiting panel pursuant to article 7(1).

(2) Whenever required to do so by the Board, any person or body specified in paragraph (1) shall give to the Board such information as the Board may reasonably require in connection with the exercise of its functions under or by virtue of this Order.

(3) The matters with respect to which the Board may require information under paragraph (2) include—

(a) the standards and requirements which must be met by persons pursuing postgraduate medical education and training leading to the award of a CCT;

(b) the procedures for managing that education or training.

(4) Where a person or body specified in paragraph (1) fails to comply with any reasonable request for information made by the Board under this article, the Board may on that ground alone, after having warned that person or body that this sanction may be imposed, direct that the postgraduate medical education or training to which that information relates is no longer approved, or from a specified date will be no longer approved, within the meaning of article 4(5).