PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
(18 May 2026)

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which speciality training programmes allow Less Than Full Time trainees to progress on the basis of competency rather than requiring extensions to the duration of training before the award of a Certificate of Completion of Training; and whether his Department has considered adopting this approach as standard across speciality training.

Asked by:
Juliet Campbell (Labour)

The General Medical Council (GMC) is the regulator of all medical doctors, physician assistants (PAs) and physician assistants in anaesthesia (PAAs), still legally known as physician associates and anaesthesia associates, practising in the United Kingdom. It sets and enforces the standards all doctors, PAs and PAAs must adhere to. The GMC is independent of Government, directly accountable to Parliament and is responsible for operational matters concerning the discharge of its statutory duties.

Progression through all specialty training is outcomes-based, whether a doctor is Less Than Full Time (LTFT) or not. The Conference of Postgraduate Medical Deans (COPMeD) Gold Guide states that ‘All postgraduate doctors in training, full-time or LTFT, need to meet the requirements for progression in training as set out in the relevant GMC-approved curriculum.’

However, the exposure and experiences needed to meet learning outcomes will likely take longer to achieve if training LTFT. Further detail can be found at the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and COPMeD. As such, when a doctor moves to LTFT, their Certificate of Completion of Training date would typically be recalculated and many of the royal colleges and statutory education bodies offer guidance around this, which is available at the following link:

https://lasepgmdesupport.hee.nhs.uk/support/solutions/articles/7000018651-recalculating-your-cct-date-when-applying-for-less-than-full-time-training

Answered by:
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