Specialist registrar

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The entry into Specialty Registrar posts is regarded as highly competitive . Regional advertisements were placed by local deaneries, which controlled the number of places and the funding for posts. The open competition is afforded and, via shortlisting and interviews, successful applicants were given posts for 4–6 years depending on the specialty. A National Training Number is awarded concurrently and is attached to the post rather than the doctor, again historically. The number of posts available is strictly linked to the number of consultants required in a particular speciality, and therefore in the more popular specialities such as Cardiology, General Surgery and Sub-Specialties, Orthopaedics and Plastic Surgery it often took many attempts to get a post - leading to what was known as the "SHO bottleneck", whereby doctors were stuck at the grade of senior house officer for a number of years. Changes in postgraduate medical training (Modernising Medical Careers) are underway to alleviate this problem. Choice of final specialty is now limited by success in application, rather than time spent waiting for a post to be available and offered.

General Practice (GP) Training most commonly entails at least 3 years to achieve a CCT Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT) on a General Medical Council (GMC) approved program .[2] This training and competency achievement may be achieved by other means. The CCT involves at least 18 months in hospital posts and at least 12 months in GP clinics or primary care. Doctors registered in a GP training program are known as GP Specialty Registrars (GP-ST). GP-STs are known to the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) as Associates in Training (AiT). This training accompanies MRCGP examinations, which leads to MRCGP membership and a place on the GP Register. MRCGP accreditation is now required to qualify as a General Practitioner.[3]