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Race ‘bias’ is to be expected

While it seems the Equality and Human Rights Commission could be irritated by the pass statistics for the RCGP clinical skills assessment, I would suggest the right comparisons are not being made.

RCGP investigates sex and race exam bias after women found to outperform men

I do consider it appropriate that a CSA in Britain tests candidates' abilities to function among the British population, understand the NHS and its procedures and communicate effectively with patients and local doctors. If it does this, candidates from a similar background would be expected to do better.

Rather than the colour of their skin (a poor surrogate anyway), it would be more interesting to see statistics comparing pass rates divided by the language of candidates' primary and secondary schooling and whether their parents lived in Britain.

From Dr David Church
Machynlleth, Powys