Introduction to Summative Assessment
The NHS (Vocational Training for General Medical Practice) Regulations
1997 made the passing of summative assessment mandatory by
law for all GP Registrars who started the totality of a 12 month
GP Registrarship in an approved training practice after 30 January 1998.
The General and Specialist Medical Practice (Medical Education, Training and
Qualifications) Order 2003 came into force on 30 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).
PMETB has agreed that all applicants for an Article 10 CCT in general practice
must pass summative assessment.
The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) and Directors' of Postgraduate
GP Education (DPGPEs) recommend that applicants who have no training and/or
experience in NHS general practice, applying under Article 11 for an SER, should
undertake a period of training as a GP registrar and pass summative assessment.
The RCGP and
DPGPEs
are committed
to summative assessment as an objective test of GP Registrars’ skills,
ensuring that those completing training achieve a minimum level
of competence to practise independently as General Practitioners
in the National Health Service.
The National Summative Assessment
Board is responsible for administering, monitoring and,
in some cases organising, the provision of methods of summative
assessment.
Since the introduction of summative assessment the component assessments
have expanded from the original UK Conference of Postgraduate Advisers
in General Practice (UKCRA now COGPED) methods, as follows:
to include:
It must be remembered that summative assessment is a test of minimal competence
in the wide range of knowledge, skills and attitudes required for an
independent practitioner in general medical practice. The vast majority of GP
Registrars who conscientiously complete their training in hospital and in their
general practice attachment should have no difficulty in passing this
assessment.
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