Medical education in the United Kingdom

Medical career grades of the National Health Service

Year	Current (Modernising Medical Careers)		Previous
1	Foundation doctor (FY1 and FY2), 2 years		Pre-registration house officer (PRHO), 1 year
2			Senior house officer (SHO), minimum 2 years; often more
3	Specialty registrar, general practice (GPST), 3 years	Specialty registrar, hospital speciality (SpR), minimum 6 years
4			Specialist registrar, 4–6 years	GP registrar, 1 year
5				General practitioner, 4 years total time in training
6–8	General practitioner, 5 years total time in training
9		Consultant, minimum 8 years total time in training	Consultant, minimum 7–9 years total time in training
Optional	Training is competency based, times shown are a minimum. Training may be extended by obtaining an Academic Clinical Fellowship for research or by dual certification in another speciality.		Training may be extended by pursuing medical research (usually 2–3 years), usually with clinical duties as well

Medical education in the United Kingdom includes educational activities involved in the education and training of medical doctors in the United Kingdom, from entry-level training through to continuing education of qualified specialists. A typical outline of the medical education pathway is presented here. However training schemes vary and different pathways may be available.

Like many other university degrees, UK medical schools design and deliver their own in-house assessments. This practice is different from, for example, the United States, where a national licensing examination has been in place for over 20 years. Each UK undergraduate summative assessment in medicine is subject to the scrutiny of a formally appointed external examiner.

In 2003 a number of UK medical schools began to work together to increase quality assurance activities in the area of assessment as part of the Universities Medical Assessment Partnership (UMAP). UMAP is a collaborative item banking project seeking to build a quality assured written assessment item bank suitable for high-stakes examinations at all UK medical schools.

The UK General Medical Council (GMC) has the ability to reverse its endorsement of any medical undergraduate training course as part of its regular visiting schedule should a course fall short of the expected standards.

Due to the UK code for higher education, first degrees in medicine comprise an integrated programme of study and professional practice spanning several levels. The final outcomes of the qualifications typically meet the expectations of a higher education qualification at level 7 (the UK Master's degree). These degrees may retain, for historical reasons, "Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery" and are abbreviated to MBChB or MBBS.

Following completion of medical school, junior doctors then enter a vocational training phase. In the UK a doctor's training normally follows this path:

Newly qualified doctors enter a two-year Foundation Programme, where they undertake terms in a variety of different specialities. These must include training in General Medicine and General Surgery but can also include other fields such as Paediatrics, Anaesthetics or General Practice.

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