Statement on Federation Shape of Training response

24 Nov 2015

We are pleased to announce that the Federation of Royal Colleges of Physicians of the UK final response to the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (AoMRC) Shape of Training mapping exercise was sent to the GMC on 12 October 2015.

Whilst the work on Shape of Training will continue for several years, the submission of this particular document is a key milestone.

Key points of the response:

1. We support the need to restructure aspects of the training of physicians to support the management of acute medical emergencies, chronic disease management, comorbidities, complexity and the needs of an ageing society. In doing so we also recognise an opportunity to begin the process of service and education transformation but we are not seeking to alter the current length of physician training.
2. We recognise that there are many ways to better support the acute medical take and acute care, both within the hospital and the community. These are specialty dependent, but with an expectation that specialties will have knowledge of the acute take, contribute to the care of acutely unwell patients, and have the skills to do that.
3. Changes for training in all specialties will be aligned with the General Medical Council changes to Generic Professional Capabilities and a new approach to assessment.
4. The curricula will allow simpler and more regular updating to accommodate the needs of patients and new innovations in treatment. In particular we want maximum flexibility in the early years to permit more pluri-potential training and for later training to ensure appropriate development and maintenance of skills and competencies.

As we await feedback from the AoMRC and GMC, work will continue on the proposed model for an Internal Medicine curriculum, including development of the supporting assessment methodology, via a newly-formed Internal Medicine Committee. The committee will be tasked with developing the curriculum to support the spine of internal medicine, central to our future proposals.

We will continue to keep you appraised of the latest developments, both on Shape of training, and the proposed Internal Medicine curriculum.

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