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Career Progression for SAS Doctors

Introduction

www.medicalcareers.nhs.uk are grateful to Dr Tony Rao, Lead Associate Dean, Frontier Project, London Deanery for his input in this section.

There are now an increasing number of national initiatives that have given Staff Grade, Specialty Doctors and Associate Specialists (SAS doctors) the opportunity to access resources for Continuing Professional Development (CPD). With the advent of the new Specialty Doctor contract, it is also likely that time for Supporting Professional Activities can be identified with the job plan.

Across some deaneries, there is now an Associate Dean for SAS doctors, whose role is to lead on developing a strategy for CPD, thereby enabling these doctors to have wider opportunities for career development. Although there are many SAS doctors whose aim is to get into specialty training or seek entry onto the Specialist Register, there are others whose career choice is to remain in the SAS grade and still be able contribute to a high standard of patient care through Continuing Professional Development. SAS doctors already make a significant contribution to CPD. A recent London survey found that 70% taught medical students, 16% led service development. 25% had a research or teaching qualification at postgraduate level and 16% were involved in current research studies.

Getting into Specialty Training

CESR (Article 14) and CEGPR (Article 11) routes

The main aim of medical training is to ensure that doctors are capable of fulfilling the role of a hospital consultant or a General Practitioner. Once doctors have completed their training programme, they are awarded a Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT). Holding a CCT means that your name is put onto a specialist register (for consultants), or the general practice register (for GPs) which are held by the General Medical Council (GMC).

The conventional route towards attaining your CCT is to complete training approved by the GMC, see: http://www.gmc-uk.org/doctors/abouteligibility.asp. However if you are an SAS doctor who has not followed an approved training programme, but think that you have gained the same level of knowledge, skills and higher level competencies as Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT) holders, you can apply to the GMC via Article 14 or Article 11. Article 14 is also known as Certification of Eligibility for Specialist Registration (CESR) and doctors who are successful in meeting CESR requirements, also qualify for entry onto the Specialist Register of the GMC. In the same way as CCT holders, they are eligible for recruitment to a consultant post in their specialty. Article 11 is also known as Certification confirming Eligibility for General Practice Registration (CEGPR).

PMETB, now the GMC since the recent merge, have made considerable efforts to guide potential applicants through the process of Article 14 and Article 11 application and have nominated officers to whom applicants are allocated during the application process. Further information can be found on the GMC website (http://www.gmc-uk.org/doctors/abouteligibility.asp).

A BMA survey carried out in November 2009 found that over 40% of Associate Specialists wished to become a consultant via Article 14/11, with most of the remaining wishing to stay at their grade. For Staff Grade Doctors, over 25% wished to become a consultant and over 40% wished to re-grade to Associate Specialist. Ten times more Staff Grade doctors wished to enter Specialist Training than Associate Specialist (10% vs 1%).