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New assessment for prospective GPs to come in from 2024/25

UK medical schools have reached agreement with the GMC to implement the new Medical Licensing Assessment (MLA), one year later than previously planned.

The new assessment, which will be regulated by the GMC, will become mandatory for both domestic and international medical graduates before embarking on training – including to general practice – in the UK from 2024/25.

The GMC had previously said the new skills test would provide a level playing field for national and international doctors and end variation in the way medical schools assess their students, and would come in from 2023/24.

The MLA will replace the current system which sees medical schools in the UK set their final exams independently in line with the GMC’s Outcomes for graduates guidelines.

The MLA will consist of a standardised Applied Knowledge Test (AKT) and Clinical and Professional Skills Assessment (CPSA), with pilots to begin next year.

For international graduates, it will replace the current Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board (PLAB). 

In a joint announcement, the GMC and Medical Schools Council said: ‘The major benefit of the MLA is that it will, for the first time, be possible to demonstrate that graduates from each medical school have met an agreed standard of proficiency and are well prepared to practise medicine as Foundation Year doctors.’

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