The CESR (CP) (Certificate of Eligibility for Specialist Registration through the Combined Programme) was introduced by the GMC in August 2007 and is the application route to specialist registration for doctors who were appointed to the specialty training programme above ST1 and will be counting time spent in previous non-GMC-approved posts towards their training.
Current GMC procedure for IMG trainees who enter postgraduate training programmes at ST3 or ST4 level is that, on completion of their training they are granted a CESR-CP certificate, as opposed to a CCT which is the standard outcome for postgraduate trainees. In effect, This differential certification does not carry the same automatic recognition in Europe, and so it would appear to have reduced significance there. Also there is documentary evidence that CESR (CP) is not recognised at the same level as CCT in many countries outside Europe, which BAPIO thinks is discriminatory, as these IMGs have established equivalence.
BAPIO wrote to GMC (1) to make the granting of CCTs auniversal outcome for all trainees who have completed their higher training in the United Kingdom, regardless of whether or not they have done part of the earlier training outside the UK.
Mr Charlie Massey the CEO at GMC in reply to BAPIO (2) request said: “ We have sought legal advice on the flexibility we have to award a CCT to those doctors who have completed training via the CESR(CP) pathway. That advice has confirmed that we can issue a CCT in these circumstances as long as the doctor’s UK training has met the minimum training period in his or her specialty as set out in Annex 5.1.3 of the European Directive on the Recognition of Professional Qualifications. This will not be a problem for the vast majority of doctors on the CESR(CP) pathway since their UK training usually significantly exceeds these minimum requirements. In addition, these restrictions may no longer apply in the future following our exit from the European Union but they remain in place during the current transition phase”.
- BAPIO letter to GMC dated 4 March 2020
- GMC reply dated 17 March 2020
‘Doctors who have previously been issued with a CESR through the combined programme, and who trained in the UK for the required minimum time, can choose to retrospectively request a CCT. The GMC’s website provides information on how to make this request. ‘