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

Made: 8th May 2003

Coming into force in accordance with article 1(2) and (3)

At the Court at Buckingham Palace, the 8th day of May 2003

Present,

The Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty in Council

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PART 1 — GENERAL

Citation and commencement

1

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Interpretation

2

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PART 2 — THE BOARD AND ITS COMMITTEES

The Postgraduate Medical Education and Training Board and its committees

3

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PART 3 — EDUCATION AND TRAINING

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

4

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Minimum requirements for general practice training

5

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Minimum requirements for specialist training

6

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Visiting panels

7

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Award and withdrawal of a Certificate of Completion of Training

8

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Information to be provided to the Board

9

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PART 4 — THE REGISTERS

The General Practitioner Register

10

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General practitioners eligible for entry in the General Practitioner Register

11

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Acquired rights of general practitioners

12

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The Specialist Register

13

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Specialists eligible for entry in the Specialist Register

14

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Recognised specialist qualifications

15

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Decisions on inclusion in the Registers

16

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Access to the Registers etc.

17

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Removal and suspension from the Registers

18

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PART 5 — THE COMPETENT AUTHORITIES FOR CERTAIN EEA PURPOSES

Specific training in general practice

19

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Specialist qualifications

20

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PART 6 — APPEALS

Appeal to an Appeal Panel against a decision of the Board

21

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Appeal to a court or sheriff against a decision of an Appeal Panel

22

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Appeals against decisions on inclusion in the Registers

23

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PART 7 — MISCELLANEOUS

Fees

24

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Rules and orders

25

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Default powers of the Secretary of State

26

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Annual reports

27

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Review of the Board’s exercise of its functions

28

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Accounts of the Board

29

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Amendment to the Medical Act and the Medical Act 1983 (Amendment) Order 2002

30

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Extent, transitional, transitory, saving and consequential provisions

31

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SCHEDULE 1 — INTERPRETATION

In this Order—

• “1977 Act” means the National Health Service Act 1977[^f00022];

• “1978 Act” means the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978[^f00023];

• “1997 Act” means the National Health Service (Primary Care) Act 1997[^f00024];

• “Appeal Panel” has the meaning assigned to it in article 21(1);

• “the Board” means the Postgraduate Medical Education and Training Board;

• “certificate of acquired rights” means a certificate issued under article 36(4) of the Directive, to the effect that its holder has an acquired right to practise as a general practitioner under the national social security scheme of the issuing State without a vocational training certificate in general practice;

• “certificate of equivalent experience” means a certificate issued by the JCPTGP pursuant to— regulation 12 of the Vocational Training Regulations (certificate of equivalent experience) and includes for the purposes of article 11(1)(c) a certificate of equivalent experience issued under the National Health Service (Vocational Training) Regulations 1979[^f00025]; regulation 12 of the Vocational Training Regulations (Scotland) (certificate of equivalent experience) and includes for the purposes of article 11(1)(c) a certificate of equivalent experience issued under the National Health Service (Vocational Training) (Scotland) Regulations 1980[^f00026]; regulation 12 of the Vocational Training Regulations (Northern Ireland) (certificate of equivalent experience) and includes for the purposes of article 11(1)(c) a certificate of equivalent experience issued under the Medical Practitioners (Vocational Training) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1979[^f00027], or a certificate issued by the Board, in accordance with those provisions, pursuant to the transitional, transitory, and saving provisions in Schedule 8;

• “certificate of prescribed experience” means a certificate issued by the JCPTGP pursuant to— regulation 10 of the Vocational Training Regulations (certificate of prescribed experience) and includes for the purposes of article 11(1)(b) a certificate of equivalent experience issued under the National Health Service (Vocational Training) Regulations 1979[^f00028]; regulation 10 of the Vocational Training Regulations (Scotland) (certificate of prescribed experience) and includes for the purposes of article 11(1)(b) a certificate of equivalent experience issued under the National Health Service (Vocational Training) (Scotland) Regulations 1980[^f00029]; regulation 10 of the Vocational Training Regulations (Northern Ireland) (certificate of prescribed experience) and includes for the purposes of article 11(1)(b) a certificate of equivalent experience issued under the Medical Practitioners (Vocational Training) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1979[^f00030], or a certificate issued by the Board, in accordance with those provisions, pursuant to the transitional, transitory, and saving provisions in Schedule 8;

• “competent authority”, in relation to an EEA State, means the authority or body designated by that State as competent for the relevant purposes of the Directive;

• “consultant in the National Health Service” means a consultant other than a locum consultant (but including an honorary consultant) employed for the purposes of providing any service as part of the National Health Service;

• “CCT” means Certificate of Completion of Training awarded under article 8, including any such certificate awarded in pursuance of the Board’s competent authority functions specified in article 20(3)(a);

• “CCST” means a Certificate of Completion of Specialist Training awarded by the STA under the ESMQO 1995 or a Certificate of Completion of Specialist Training issued by the Board, in accordance with the provisions of the ESMQO 1995, pursuant to the transitional, transitory, and saving provisions in Schedule 8;

• “the Directive” means Council Directive 93/16/EEC of 5th April 1993 to facilitate the free movement of doctors and the mutual recognition of their diplomas, certificates and other evidence of formal qualifications[^f00031]— as adapted by paragraph 4(b), (c) and (d) of Annex VII to the EEA Agreement (where the specialist medical qualifications awarded in certain EEA States[^f00032] and the names given to specialities in those States are set out); and as amended by— the Act annexed to the Treaty relating to the accession of the Kingdom of Norway, the Republic of Austria, the Republic of Finland and the Kingdom of Sweden signed at Corfu on 24th June 1994[^f00033], as adjusted by the Decision of the Council of the European Union of 1st January 1995 adjusting the instruments concerning the accession of new Member States to the European Union[^f00034], Council Directive 97/50/EC[^f00035], Commission Directive 98/21/EC[^f00036], Commission Directive 98/63/EC[^f00037], Commission Directive 1999/46/EC[^f00038] and Directive 2001/19/EC[^f00039], and the Agreement between the European Community and its Member States of the one part, and the Swiss Confederation, of the other, on the free movement of persons, signed at Luxembourg on 21st June 1999;

• “EEA” means European Economic Area which shall be read as including Switzerland;

• “EEA Agreement” means the Agreement on the European Economic Area signed at Oporto on 2nd May 1992 [^f00040] as adjusted by the Protocol signed at Brussels on 17th March 1993[^f00041], as amended by Decisions of the EEA Joint Committee Nos. 190/1999 of 17th December 1999[^f00042], 89/2000 of 27th October 2000[^f00043] and 84/2002 of 25th June 2002[^f00044];

• “EEA State” means a Contracting Party to the EEA Agreement or Switzerland;

• “ESMQO 1995” means the European Specialist Medical Qualifications Order 1995[^f00045];

• “fee” shall be construed in accordance with article 24;

• “general practitioner” means a general medical practitioner;

• “GMC” means the General Medical Council;

• “General Practitioner Register” means the register maintained by the GMC pursuant to article 10(1);

• “GP Registrar” has the meaning assigned to it in article 5(5);

• “GP Trainer” has the meaning assigned to it in article 5(4);

• “JCPTGP” means the Joint Committee on Postgraduate Training for General Practice;

• “Medical Act” means the Medical Act 1983[^f00046];

• “National Health Service” means the health services established in pursuance of the National Health Service Act 1946, the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1947 or any health services provided in pursuance of article 4(a) of the Health and Personal Social Services (Northern Ireland) Order 1972[^f00047];

• “prescribed” means prescribed in rules made by the Board;

• “registered dentist” has the same meaning as in the Dentists Act 1984[^f00048];

• “the Registers” means the General Practitioner Register and the Specialist Register;

• “restricted services principal” means the same as in the National Health Service (General Medical Services) Regulations 1992[^f00049], the National Health Service (General Medical Services) (Scotland) Regulations 1995[^f00050], or the General Medical Services Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1997[^f00051], as the case may be;

• “the 1994 Regulations” means the Vocational Training for General Medical Practice (European Requirements) Regulations 1994[^f00052];

• “Specialist Register” means the register maintained by the GMC pursuant to article 13(1);

• “statement of eligibility for registration” has the meaning assigned to it in article 11(7) for general practitioners and article 14(11) for specialist medical practitioners;

• “statutory committees” has the meaning assigned to it in article 3(8);

• “STA” means the Specialist Training Authority of the medical Royal Colleges;

• “United Kingdom country” means England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland;

• “vocational training certificate” means a diploma, certificate or other evidence of formal qualifications awarded on completion of a course of specific training in general medical practice and referred to in Article 30 of the Directive;

• “Vocational Training Regulations” means the National Health Service (Vocational Training for General Medical Practice) Regulations 1997[^f00053];

• “Vocational Training Regulations (Northern Ireland)” means the Medical Practitioners (Vocational Training) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998[^f00054]; and

• “Vocational Training Regulations (Scotland)” means the National Health Service (Vocational Training for General Medical Practice) (Scotland) Regulations 1998[^f00055].

SCHEDULE 2 — THE POSTGRADUATE MEDICAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING BOARD AND ITS STATUTORY COMMITTEES

PART 1 — THE BOARD

Membership

1

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Tenure of office of members

2

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The chair

3

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Delegation of appointment of members and the first chair

4

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Observers

5

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Grants and loans to the Board

6

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Procedure of the Board and its committees

7

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Members' interests

8

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Complaints

9

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Powers of the Board

10

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PART 2 — THE STATUTORY COMMITTEES

The Training Committee

11

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The Assessment Committee

12

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Procedure of the statutory committees

13

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SCHEDULE 3 — SPECIALTIES IN WHICH THE UK AWARDS A CCT, AND ANY MINIMUM TRAINING PERIODS

PART 1 — SPECIALTIES WITH MINIMUM TRAINING PERIODS

Five years
Accident and emergency medicine
General (internal) medicine (formerly known as general medicine*)
General surgery*
Neurosurgery* (formally known as neurological surgery)
Trauma and orthopaedic surgery* (formally known as orthopaedic surgery)
Paediatric surgery
Plastic surgery*
Cardio-thoracic surgery (formerly known as thoracic surgery)
Urology*

Four years
Cardiology (formerly known as cardio-vascular disease)
Chemical pathology (also known as clinical biochemistry)
Child and adolescent psychiatry
Clinical neurophysiology
Clinical pharmacology and therapeutics
Infectious diseases (formerly known as communicable diseases)
Public health medicine (formerly known as community medicine)
Dermatology
Clinical radiology (formerly known as diagnostic radiology, and as radiology*)
Gastro-enterology
Geriatric medicine (formerly known as geriatrics)
Immunology (also known as immunopathology)
Medical microbiology and virology (formerly known as medical microbiology)
Histopathology (formerly known as morbid anatomy and histopathology,*)
Neurology*
Nuclear medicine
Obstetrics and gynaecology*
Occupational medicine
Oral and maxillo-facial surgery (basic medical and dental training)
Paediatrics*
General psychiatry (formerly known as psychiatry, as general adult psychiatry, and as mental illness*)
Clinical oncology (formerly known as radiotherapy*)
Renal medicine (formerly known as renal disease, and as nephrology)
Respiratory medicine* (also known as thoracic medicine)
Rheumatology
Tropical medicine
Genito-urinary medicine (formerly known as venereology)

Three years
Anaesthetics*
Endocrinology and diabetes mellitus
Haematology
Ophthalmology*
Otolaryngology* (also known as ENT surgery)

PART 2 — OTHER SPECIALTIES

Allergy
Audiological medicine
Clinical cytogenics and molecular genetics
Clinical genetics
Forensic psychiatry
Intensive care medicine
Medical oncology
Medical ophthalmology
Psychiatry of learning disability
Old age psychiatry
Paediatric cardiology
Palliative medicine
Pharmaceutical medicine
Psychotherapy
Rehabilitation medicine