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RCGP reviewing whether MRCGP exam is ‘fit for purpose’

Exclusive The RCGP has drafted in consultants to carry out a ‘comprehensive review’ of its controversial MRCGP exam, which will look at whether the assessment is ‘fit for purpose’.

It is also looking at whether ‘fairness to candidates’ is sufficiently considered at ‘all stages of test design and delivery’, following controversy around the gap in pass rates between white and BME candidates.

The college said that it is undertaking the review now because the exam has been running for 10 years and is ‘therefore at an appropriate point at which to evaluate its content and structure’.

It is also ensuring that the exam is in line with the GMC’s revised standards for postgraduate curricula, published in May.

The Health Professional Assessment Consultancy has been appointed is to review the MRCGP assessment – including the Applied Knowledge Test (AKT), the Clinical Skills Assessment (CSA) and the Workplace Based Assessment (WPBA) – and suggest potential changes.

According to a paper presented at this month’s RCGP council meeting, the review is expected to include answers to the following questions:

  • Is the current programme of assessment fit for the purpose of a postgraduate medical license?
  • Are there emerging evidence-based assessment methodologies that the RCGP should consider to ensure that the MRCGP remains fit for purpose and adaptable?
  • Does the programme of assessment meet the requirements of the GMC’s Standards for Curriculum and Assessment Review, including the proposed General Professional Competences?
  • Is fairness to candidates sufficiently considered at all stages of test design and delivery?
  • Are the current standards appropriate to ensure patient safety?
  • What enhancements to test development, standard setting and quality assurance methodologies might be appropriate?

The MRCGP has come under fire in the past on a number of issues. In 2015, Pulse reported that the BMA had concerns over perceived high fees.

Meanwhile GP leaders have previously called on the RCGP to look at reforming the training process, with former college chair Professor Clare Gerada questioning the necessity of the CSA aspect of the exam.

And the exam has been the subject of a long-running dispute about the differences in failure rates between UK white and BME graduates and international medical graduates, which sparked a judicial review hearing instigated by the British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (BAPIO) in 2014.

The review ruled that the exam was lawful but the judge stressed that the RCGP needed to ‘eliminate discrimination’ in the MRCGP and tackle the differences in failure rates between white and non-white medical graduates sitting the CSA.