The New MMC Career Framework

MMC Career Framework

F1 and F2
Foundation year 1 (F1) and Foundation year 2 (F2) make up the two-year Foundation Programme which all UK medical graduates are required to undertake before progressing to specialty or GP training. These two years effectively replace the pre-registration house officer (PRHO) year and the first year of senior house officer (SHO) training. Foundation doctors are trained and assessed against specific competences set out in the Curriculum for the Foundation Years in Postgraduate Education and Training. This curriculum was agreed with the General Medical Council (GMC) and the Postgraduate Medical Education and Training Board (PMETB)

Foundation schools
Foundation training is managed in a way that brings together medical schools, postgraduate deaneries and health care providers to provide training in a variety of specialties and settings (acute, community, mental health and general practice). This training is supported and overseen by the postgraduate medical deaneries. This administrative body may be referred to as a foundation school.

Specialist and GP training programmes (run-through training)
These are specialist and GP training programmes which candidates who are successful in their application can start directly after the F2 year. Once a doctor is in specialist or GP training, they will have the opportunity to gain a Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT), subject to satisfactory progress. Each programme will have a curriculum, agreed by PMETB, against which doctors in training will be assessed. The number of years that a trainee spends in training will vary from programme to programme. After a doctor receives a CCT, they will be legally eligible for entry to the Specialist or GP Register and can then apply for an appropriate senior medical appointment.

Specialist/GP training schools
As with foundation training, specialist and GP training programmes will be delivered through a range of organisations, overseen and supported by the postgraduate deans. Similarly, this administrative body may be known as a specialty/ GP training school.

Specialist and GP Registers (CCT route vs Article 14/11 route)
Once a doctor is awarded a CCT by PMETB at the end of a training programme, they will be eligible for entry to the Specialist or GP Register held by the GMC. A doctor who has not completed a specialist/GP training programme may apply for entry to the Specialist or GP Register through PMETB. If PMETB is satisfied, they may be entered on the appropriate register. (This route is defined by Articles 11 and 14 of the General and Specialist Medical Practice (Education Training and Qualifications) Order 2003). Once a doctor is on the register, they are then eligible to apply for an appropriate senior medical appointment.

Senior medical appointments
These may cover, for example, GP principals, other employed GPs, consultants or other specialist roles. These roles will be determined by the service.

Fixed term specialist training
These are one year appointments in a given specialty. They provide doctors with the same training as the first or second year of the appropriate run-through programme, but do not form part of a progressive training programme. Thereafter they may apply for entry to a run-through programme, or a career post in the appropriate specialty.

Career posts
These positions are service delivery posts with no formal specialty training elements. However, employer appraisal and relevant continuing professional development will be an essential part of these doctors’ careers. These posts will only be available in secondary care, and doctors will require to have undertaken at least three years of post-registration training in order to take up such a post.

Competitive entry
Progress through each stage of training will be through open and fair competition using nationally standardised application forms and guidelines.

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