Modernising Medical Careers

It is expected that there will be changes to the surgical training programme in 2011.

Modernising Medical Careers (MMC) was introduced in 2007. Its aim was to improve patient care by delivering a modernised and focussed career structure for doctors through a major reform of postgraduate medical education.

The initial introduction of MMC was extremely challenging, particularly the selection process.

In Scotland, MMC was renamed Scottish Medical Training in 2009. Details of this scheme are available from the Scottish Medical Training website.

New curriculum

Since 2007, Specialist Trainees (STs) have been appointed in Scotland to ‘run through’ training programmes. However it is anticipated that from August 2011 there will be decoupling of core surgical training (CT 1/2) from specialist general surgical training (ST3-8). Specialist training is delivered in a focussed and structured way to the new curriculum which has been produced by the Intercollegiate Surgical Curriculum Programme (ISCP).

Further information is available on their website.

This curriculum has been approved by the Postgraduate Medical Education and Training Board (PMETB) and standardized assessments are used to assess the competencies set out in the specialty curriculum.

Progression

Career progression is based on the acquisition of competencies.

After successful completion of run through specialist training, trainees are awarded a Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT) and will then be eligible to apply for a consultant post.