Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to allow (1) final year GP Speciality trainees, and (2) those on the Targeted GP Training Scheme, to join the GP Register without completing their final exams.

The Government has no plans to allow general practitioners (GPs) in training who have not completed their final exams, or those who have failed to pass the Membership of the Royal College of General Practitioners’ examination, to join the GP register.

The emergency powers in the Medical Act 1983 do not allow the General Medical Council to grant temporary specialist or GP registration to doctors who have not previously held this type of registration.

If a doctor has been removed from GP training due to failure to demonstrate competence for practice, there is no means in statute for them to become fully qualified GPs without demonstrating this competence.

The Royal College of General Practitioners and the four statutory education bodies are working to find a solution for trainees who have had their examinations cancelled as a result of COVID-19 to demonstrate their competence and qualify as a GP. A temporary recorded alternative to the Clinical Skills Assessment is rapidly being developed (subject to approval by the General Medical Council). The Royal College of General Practitioners is also working with their testing partner to enable the Applied Knowledge Test to resume at test centres with appropriate social distancing safeguards in place from July and are investigating options for remote invigilation for those who are shielding.