Competences
Assessment of Competences
Recruitment to Specialty and Academic training programmes
Important: Please read carefully. Failure to follow these instructions could result in your application form being withdrawn.
These instructions have been agreed in compliance with national regulations stipulated by the Department of Health that require all applicants to produce satisfactory documentary evidence to demonstrate requisite competences for each application to a specialty or academic training programme.
The evidence required is dependent upon the level of training applied to:
Certificate forms for both 2011 and 2012 can be found at the top right of this page.
Information regarding submission of the required evidence is given below.
Applications to CT/ST1
Only standard evidence of achievement of Foundation competences will be accepted. Please note:
- Applicants in the second year of a recognised Foundation Programme at the time of application are not required to produce evidence of Foundation competences at interview but will be required to provide the FACD 5.2 certificate (issued upon successful completion of Foundation training) in order to take up any medical specialty training post offered.
- Applicants undertaking “stand alone” FY2 post that is NOT part of a recognised Foundation Programme attached to a UK Foundation School should submit additional evidence as described in point 4.
- Applicants who have completed a UK Foundation Programme within the last 3 years (since 1st August 2009 for 2012 recruitment) should provide evidence of their FACD 5.2 Certificate.
- Applicants who have not undertaken UK Foundation Programme training within the last 3 years are able to submit evidence of Foundation competences by asking a consultant who has supervised them in a paid clinical post for at least 3 months full time equivalent within the last 3 years (since 1st August 2009 for 2012 recruitment) to attest to achievement of Foundation competences by signing a certificate.
- There are two types of "Alternative Certificates" available for download at the top right of this page: Alternative Certificate A for specialties WITH acute medical responsibilities and Alternative Certificate B for specialties WITHOUT acute medical responsibilities. Please be aware that these are updated every year and you need to use the certificate that corresponds to the year of your recruitment. If you are applying to 2012 Specialty recruitment you should use the 2012 Alternative certificates. A list of specialties with acute medical responsibilities is also available.
- Consultants can only sign an Alternative Certificate if they have worked with the applicant in a paid clinical post for a minimum of three months (full-time equivalent) within the last 3 years.
- Only paid clinical posts can be used to provide evidence of Foundation competences. Therefore Alternative Certificates cannot be signed by consultants for applicants whom they observed in honorary posts or research posts.
- Applicants need to demonstrate ALL of the listed competences. If a consultant has not observed the candidate demonstrate all of the listed competences the consultant may still complete the certificate to confirm that every competence has been achieved if they obtain reliable evidence from another physician who has observed, within the last three years, the candidate demonstrate the competences not demonstrated directly to the consultant signing the certificate.
- In order to ensure the demonstration of all the competences, applicants may submit more than one Alternative Certificate from different posts, signed by different consultants. However each certificate must relate to a paid clinical post undertaken for at least 3 months full-time duration within the last 3 years (since 1st August 2009 for 2012 recruitment).
- Applicants who have insufficient experience in posts that can be used to sign-off Foundation competences are advised to take a paid clinical post of a minimum three months full-time duration in a medical or surgical specialty that involves the active care of sick patients, in order that they are able to obtain a valid Alternative Certificate.
No other evidence will be considered.
Information regarding submission of the required evidence is given below.
Applications to CT/ST2
Applicants must demonstrate achievement of competency to the level required for entry to the particular specialty at CT/ST2 level.
Only standard evidence of achievement of competence will be accepted:
- FACD 5.2 Certificate, Alternative Certificate A or Alternative Certificate B – to demonstrate Foundation Competences
- ARCP or RITA documents (related to specific levels) or equivalent
- Educational / Clinical Supervisors letter.
No other evidence will be considered.
Information regarding submission of the required evidence is given below.
Applications to CT/ST3
Applicants must demonstrate achievement of core/specialty competency to the level required for entry to this specialty/level.
Standard evidence of achievement of competence will be accepted:
- ARCP or RITA documents (related to specific levels)
- Completed Certificate C (an Alternative Certificate of Core Competences, relevant to ST3 specialties in Medicine only) where applicable
- Educational / Clinical Supervisor letter.
Information regarding submission of the required evidence is given below.
Applications to ST3+
Applicants must demonstrate that they are currently undertaking a UK Core training programme relevant to this application or have already achieved Core Competency, or have undertaken alternative specialty training which is relevant and acceptable to the specialty to which they are applying.
Standard evidence of achievement of competence will be accepted, i.e.:
- ARCP or RITA documents (related to specific levels)
- Educational / Clinical Supervisor letter
- Completed Certificate C (an Alternative Certificate of Core Competences, relevant to ST3 specialties in Medicine only) where applicable.
Information regarding submission of the required evidence is given below.
Submission of Evidence of Competences
Nationally agreed person specifications that list the required criteria, including competences, for each specialty are available on the Medical Specialty Training (England) website.
When recruitment to a post opens, the person specification and application form will be available on the London Deanery online recruitment system. The application form includes a series of questions designed to ascertain whether applicants meet the competence requirements.
Depending on their responses to these questions, eligible applicants are informed of:
- The evidence that they need to provide.
- At what point the evidence should be provided. Evidence may be required:
- by close of application,
- at the interview/selection centre,
- or upon request at any stage of the recruitment process.
If evidence is required by close of application, the applicant should upload this to their application form. Only in cases where the applicant experiences difficulties in uploading the evidence to the application form, should it be emailed to the deanery. If there is a need to email it to the deanery, please refer to the relevant recruitment advert on the relevant vacancy reference page of the London Deanery online recruitment system for the mailbox to which evidence should be emailed for any given recruitment.
The documentation provided by candidates will be reviewed by the London Deanery recruitment team, with input from clinical colleagues if required, during the recruitment process. London Deanery reserves the right to retain the documentary evidence supplied by candidates if it is not possible to review the evidence on the day of the interview or there is a query about the documentation.
Important note:
By allowing applicants to progress through stages of the recruitment process, London Deanery HAS NOT accepted or confirmed that applicants meet the requisite eligibility requirements in relation to competence and experience. This includes information you may have supplied at the time of application relating to competences and experience.
Applicants may still be withdrawn from the recruitment process at any stage, including after the interviews have taken place, if the evidence pertaining to competence and experience is found to be unsatisfactory by London Deanery.
Applicants may be asked to provide documentation at any stage of the recruitment process, including at the interview stage. Applicants who fail to bring satisfactory evidence to their interview will be given a maximum of 24 hours (excluding weekends and Bank holidays) to provide this documentation to the London Deanery for review. Failure to do so is extremely likely to result in their application being withdrawn.
Additional Information
Applicants must meet all essential criteria, including evidence of competences, to be eligible to apply for Specialty and Academic training. Information regarding other criteria can be found on the Eligibility Guidance page.
Further details of the application process can be found on the Medical Specialty Training (England) website.
If you have a query about competences, please refer to the FAQ section of our website.
If this does not answer your query, please contact us at recruitmentenquiries@londondeanery.ac.uk
Please ensure you refer to the specialty you are enquiring about when emailing the team. Failure to include this information will result in confirmation emails and may delay the enquiry response time.