The RCGP GP Curriculum
The official map of everything you need to become a GP — not a set of rules to memorise, but a compass to navigate your entire training journey.
The RCGP curriculum is the educational backbone of your entire GP training programme. Knowing it is not just helpful — it shapes how you plan your learning, what you document in your 14Fish ePortfolio, and how your progress is assessed. This page brings it to life.
Curated Links
A hand-picked mix of official guidance and real-world GP training resources. Because sometimes the best pearls are not hiding in the official documents.
The official hub — curriculum document, topic guides, and all downloads.
The 2025 core curriculum text — definition of a GP, scope of practice, and continuity of care.
The 5 areas of capability and 13 specific capabilities explained in full.
All 22 clinical topic guides from allergy to urgent care — your AKT revision starting point.
Six professional guides covering consulting, ethics, leadership, population health and more.
RCGP's own one-page summaries of the topic guides. Brilliant for quick revision.
Latest curriculum changes, PDF downloads, and appendices including assessment blueprint.
Where your curriculum-linked evidence lives. Every WPBA, reflection, and learning entry goes here.
How WPBA connects to the curriculum capabilities — CBDs, COTs, MSFs, and more.
The RCGP explanation of AKT, SCA, and WPBA in relation to the curriculum.
The Bradford VTS home for all GP training resources — linked to the curriculum throughout.
The GP curriculum now maps explicitly to GMC's 2024 Good Medical Practice guidance.
Free RCGP online modules linked directly to curriculum topic guides and capabilities.
⚡ Quick Summary — If You Only Read One Thing
- The RCGP curriculum is titled "Being a General Practitioner" — first published 2007, most recently updated August 2025.
- It defines the knowledge, skills, and qualities (attitudes/values) expected of a competent, independent UK GP.
- The curriculum is organised into 5 Areas of Capability, each containing specific capabilities — 13 capabilities in total.
- It is supplemented by Topic Guides in three categories: Professional (6), Life Stages (4), and Clinical (22) — 32 guides in total.
- The old language of "13 competency areas" has been replaced. The current framework uses "capabilities".
- Progress against the curriculum is assessed via three MRCGP tools: WPBA, AKT, and SCA.
- You are not expected to cover every topic during your 3-year training — the curriculum is a guide, not a to-do list.
- All curriculum evidence links to your 14Fish ePortfolio entries — every WPBA should map to at least one capability area.
- The curriculum maps directly to the GMC Generic Professional Capabilities Framework and Good Medical Practice 2024.
What Is the RCGP Curriculum — And Why Does It Matter?
More than a list of topics. It's the professional blueprint for what a GP is.
Think of the RCGP curriculum as a map of general practice. It doesn't just list what you should know — it describes what kind of doctor you are becoming. It covers knowledge, yes, but also clinical skills, professional values, communication, leadership, and how you care for whole communities.
The curriculum has been in place since 2007. The August 2025 update refined its structure and added new emphasis on areas including genomic medicine, neurodevelopmental conditions, environmental sustainability, and health equity.
Crucially, the curriculum is not a syllabus in the traditional sense. You cannot "finish" it. It is a living framework that guides your learning throughout training and continues to shape your CPD as a qualified GP.
📋 What the Curriculum Defines
- The knowledge a GP needs to practise safely
- The clinical and consulting skills required
- The qualities, attitudes, and values of good practice
- The professional behaviours expected by the GMC
- The breadth of clinical areas to develop competence in
🎯 What the Curriculum Is Used For
- Guiding what you learn during your 3-year training
- Linking your 14Fish ePortfolio entries to assessed capabilities
- Setting the content for AKT and SCA assessments
- Informing ARCP panel decisions at each review point
- Shaping lifelong CPD and GMC revalidation after qualification
Most trainees encounter the curriculum backwards — they learn a topic, then go looking for which capability it maps to. More effective is the opposite: pick a capability area, notice what you haven't covered well yet, and use that to plan upcoming tutorials or target specific learning logs. Your Educational Supervisor will appreciate it, and your ePortfolio will look far richer.
The RCGP defines a GP as "a doctor who is a consultant in general practice. GPs have distinct expertise and experience in providing whole person medical care whilst managing the complexity, uncertainty and risk associated with the continuous care they provide. GPs work at the heart of their communities, striving to provide comprehensive and equitable care for everyone, taking into account their health care needs, stage of life and background."
This definition now appears in every public-facing curriculum document — reinforcing medical generalism as a distinct and valued specialty.
🏥 Scope of GP Practice — What the Contract Covers
The Standard General Medical Services (GMS) Contract defines the scope of GP practice in the NHS. Understanding this scope is part of the curriculum — it defines what you are expected to be competent in as an independent GP.
Core Service Components
- First-contact assessment and management of acute illness
- Out-of-hours services
- Long-term condition management (tailored to local needs)
- Care of people in nursing homes
- Management of terminal illness
- Nationally/locally commissioned services: cervical cytology, child health surveillance, maternity services (not intrapartum), contraceptive services, childhood immunisations, minor surgery
Clinical Conditions Requiring GP Expertise
The curriculum specifically lists these as areas where GP involvement is essential:
Asthma · Atrial fibrillation · Cancer · CKD · COPD · Coronary heart disease · Dementia · Depression · Diabetes · Epilepsy · Heart failure · Hypertension · Hypothyroidism · Learning disabilities · Mental health · Obesity · Palliative care · Smoking · Stroke and TIA
🔗 Continuity of Care — Why the Curriculum Values It So Highly
Continuity of care is one of the defining features of general practice — and the 2025 curriculum reinforces it more explicitly than ever. The evidence base is substantial.
What the Evidence Shows
Continuity of care is associated with:
The curriculum describes continuity in three distinct forms — all of which matter in general practice:
- Relational continuity — seeing the same GP or care team over time; the cornerstone of the therapeutic relationship
- Management/co-ordination continuity — consistent care planning and co-ordination across settings and professionals
- Informational continuity — continuity of patient records and information across consultations and providers
The curriculum explicitly asks practices to design appointment systems that protect personal lists and to measure continuity as a quality metric.
The 5 Areas of Capability
The current curriculum framework (2025) organises GP training into five areas of capability, containing 13 specific capabilities in total. These replace the old language of "competency areas."
The RCGP now uses the word capability rather than competency. Capabilities describe what a doctor can do in complex, real-world situations — they are broader and more flexible than competencies, which can feel like pass/fail boxes. This shift matters because GP practice is inherently complex and context-dependent.
- Fitness to Practise
- An Ethical Approach
- Communicating and Consulting
Covers how you manage your own wellbeing and performance, your ethical decision-making, and how you communicate with patients across different contexts including remote consulting, language barriers, and complex relationships.
See what each capability requires
- Demonstrating the attitudes and behaviours expected of a good doctor
- Managing the factors that influence your performance — including health, stress, and external pressures
- Promoting health and wellbeing in yourself and colleagues (new explicit learning outcome in 2025)
- Treating others fairly and with respect, acting without discrimination or prejudice
- Providing care with compassion and kindness
- Promoting an environment of inclusivity, safety, cultural humility, and freedom to speak up
- Establishing effective partnerships through a range of in-person and remote consulting modalities
- Managing the additional challenges of consultations with patients who have particular communication needs or different languages, cultures, beliefs, and educational backgrounds
- Maintaining continuing relationships with patients, carers, and families
- Data Gathering and Interpretation
- Clinical Examination and Procedural Skills (CEPS)
- Decision-Making and Diagnosis
- Clinical Management
The four clinical capability areas — from history-taking and interpreting results, through to shared decision-making and providing urgent care safely. The majority of your CBD and COT assessments are testing these capabilities.
See what each capability requires
- Applying an organised approach to data gathering and investigation
- Interpreting findings accurately and appropriately in context
- Demonstrating a proficient approach to clinical examination and procedural skills
- Includes five mandatory examinations required for CCT — documented and observed
- Adopting appropriate decision-making principles based on shared understanding with patients
- Using best available, current, valid, and relevant evidence
- Providing collaborative clinical care that supports patient autonomy
- Using a reasoned approach that includes supported self-care
- Making appropriate use of other professionals and services
- Providing urgent care when needed — recognising that responding to unscheduled requests is a core GP role
- Medical Complexity
- Team Working
Managing patients with multiple conditions, co-ordinating care across systems, and working effectively within and leading multidisciplinary teams. This is where generalism really shows its value — and where hospital training may leave you underprepared without deliberate GP-focused reflection.
See what each capability requires
- Enabling people living with long-term conditions to optimise their health
- Using a personalised approach to manage and monitor concurrent health problems for individual patients
- Managing risk and uncertainty while adopting safe and effective approaches for patients with complex needs
- Co-ordinating and overseeing patient care across healthcare systems
- Working as an effective member of multiprofessional and diverse teams
- Leading and co-ordinating a team-based approach to patient care
- Performance, Learning and Teaching
- Organisation, Management and Leadership
Understanding and improving how GP practices and systems work — QI projects, leadership, use of data and technology, and financial awareness. Often the capability area trainees engage with least, but increasingly tested and valued. Your QI project is your primary evidence here.
See what each capability requires
- Continuously evaluating and improving the care you provide
- Adopting a safe and evidence-informed approach to quality improvement
- Supporting the education and professional development of colleagues
- Advocating for medical generalism in healthcare systems
- Applying leadership skills to improve your organisation's performance
- Making effective use of data, technology, and communication systems to provide better patient care
- Developing the financial and business skills required for your role
- Holistic Practice, Health Promotion and Safeguarding
- Community Health and Environmental Sustainability
The generalist mindset in full — caring for the person, not just the problem. This includes safeguarding, health promotion, understanding the communities you serve, and — increasingly — the GP's role in environmental sustainability and planetary health.
See what each capability requires
- Demonstrating the holistic mindset of a generalist medical practitioner
- Supporting people through their experiences of health, illness, and recovery with a personalised approach
- Safeguarding individuals, families, and local populations
- Understanding the health service and your role within it
- Building relationships with the communities in which you work
- Promoting population and planetary health — including sustainable prescribing and climate-aware practice
Many trainees focus almost entirely on Area B (clinical skills) and neglect Areas D and E. Your ARCP panel will notice. Evidence of QI activity, leadership, safeguarding awareness, and population health understanding is explicitly required — not optional extras.
At a Glance: All 5 Areas and 13 Capabilities
| Area | Title | Specific Capabilities (13 total) |
|---|---|---|
| A | Knowing yourself and relating to others | Fitness to practise · An ethical approach · Communicating and consulting |
| B | Applying clinical knowledge and skill | Data gathering and interpretation · Clinical examination and procedural skills · Decision-making and diagnosis · Clinical management |
| C | Managing complex and long-term care | Medical complexity · Team working |
| D | Working well in organisations and systems of care | Performance, learning and teaching · Organisation, management and leadership |
| E | Caring for the whole person, the wider community and the environment | Holistic practice, health promotion and safeguarding · Community health and environmental sustainability |
The 32 Topic Guides
The curriculum is supplemented by 32 topic guides that explore the capabilities in real clinical and professional contexts. Think of them as the "content layer" of the curriculum — each one illustrates everyday general practice in a specific area.
Each topic guide illustrates important aspects of everyday general practice — they are not a comprehensive textbook of that specialty. They should not be treated as a complete list of everything a GP needs to know on a topic. They are a starting point, not a ceiling. The topic guides and the core "Being a GP" document should be used together, not as standalone resources.
📐 What Each Topic Guide Contains
Every topic guide follows a standardised six-component structure — making them consistent and predictable to use for learning and revision.
🏛️ Professional Topic Guides (6)
Covering the non-clinical but essential professional capabilities of a UK GP.
| Topic Guide | Key Themes |
|---|---|
| Consulting in General Practice | Person-centred care, consultation models, attitudes and biases, remote and digital consulting, time constraints, ICE framework |
| Equality, Diversity and Inclusion | Protected characteristics (Equality Act 2010), reducing discrimination in clinical practice, Accessible Information Standard, inclusive team culture |
| Evidence in Practice, Research, Teaching and Lifelong Learning | Critical appraisal, epidemiology and statistics, evidence-based practice, teaching principles, research ethics, CPD |
| Continuity and Quality of Care, Safety and Prescribing | Evidence for continuity (reduces mortality and admissions), QI frameworks, prescribing safety, polypharmacy, medicines optimisation |
| Leadership, Management and Administration | Leadership frameworks, NHS structure, business and financial skills, medicolegal documents (DNACPR, death certificates), administrative tasks |
| Population and Planetary Health | Health inequalities, screening programmes, prevention, sustainable prescribing, climate and health, social determinants |
🔄 Life Stages Topic Guides (4)
Exploring important aspects of general practice across the human lifespan.
| Topic Guide | Key Themes |
|---|---|
| Children and Young People | Child health and development, CAMHS, safeguarding children, immunisation, neurodevelopmental presentations, consent and Gillick competence |
| People Living with Long-Term Conditions including Cancer | Multimorbidity management, personalised care, oncology in primary care, shared decision-making, supported self-management |
| Older Adults | Frailty assessment, multimorbidity, falls prevention, geriatric syndromes (delirium, incontinence), care home medicine, deprescribing |
| People at the End of Life | Palliative care in primary care, DNACPR, anticipatory prescribing, advance care planning, recognising the last year of life |
🩺 Clinical Topic Guides (22)
The 2025 curriculum has 22 clinical topic guides — up from 20 in 2019. Learning Disability and Maternity and Reproductive Health are newly added as standalone guides. Several others have been renamed.
| Clinical Topic Guide | 2025 Notes |
|---|---|
| Allergy and Clinical Immunology | Renamed from Allergy and Immunology; now includes climate change as a trigger context |
| Cardiovascular Health | — |
| Dermatology | — |
| Ear, Nose and Throat, Speech and Hearing | — |
| Eyes and Vision | — |
| Gastroenterology | — |
| Genomic Medicine | New emphasis on polygenic risk scoring and pharmacogenomics in primary care |
| Gynaecology and Breast Health | Renamed from Gynaecology and Breast |
| Haematology | — |
| Infectious Diseases and Travel Health | Renamed from Infectious Disease and Travel Health |
| Learning Disability ★ | NEW standalone guide — previously within the neurodevelopmental guide. Covers atypical presentations, annual health checks, reasonable adjustments. |
| Maternity and Reproductive Health ★ | NEW standalone guide — previously in the Life Stages section only. |
| Mental Health | — |
| Metabolic Problems and Endocrinology | — |
| Musculoskeletal Health | — |
| Neurodevelopmental Conditions and Neurodiversity | Renamed and narrowed — now focuses on autism and ADHD presentations in primary care; Learning Disability separated into own guide |
| Neurology | — |
| Renal and Urology | Renamed from Kidney and Urology |
| Respiratory Health | — |
| Sexual Health | — |
| Smoking, Alcohol and Substance Misuse | — |
| Urgent and Unscheduled Care | — |
★ = New standalone guide in 2025
The AKT broadly follows the curriculum topic guides — if a topic guide exists for it, expect to be tested on it. The super condensed curriculum guides (available on the RCGP website) are a brilliant one-page starting point for each topic. They're not exhaustive — but they'll show you the GP-relevant angle, which is exactly what AKT questions target. The reflective questions within the full topic guides also closely mirror the kinds of probe questions SCA examiners use — working through them with your trainer is excellent SCA preparation.
Curriculum vs Capabilities — What's the Difference?
They both start with a C. They're both important. And yes, they are completely different things. (You're not the first person to get confused.)
📚 The Curriculum
The curriculum is the content — all the subjects, topics, and areas that make up what a GP needs to know, do, and be. Think of it as the map of general practice.
It includes both the topic guides (what you cover) and the capability framework (how you demonstrate it).
Analogy: The curriculum is the entire recipe book.
🏆 The Capabilities
The capabilities are the performance framework — the observable behaviours and abilities that show you can do the job of a GP. Think of them as the compass that tells you in which direction to develop.
The 5 areas of capability (and 13 specific capabilities within them) describe what a competent independent GP actually does.
Analogy: The capabilities are the skills a great chef needs — regardless of which recipe they're cooking.
During training, you cover the curriculum topics and build your capabilities simultaneously. A CBD about managing a patient with heart failure covers curriculum content (cardiovascular health topic guide) and demonstrates capabilities (clinical management, medical complexity, data gathering). They're two lenses on the same activity — not two separate tasks.
| Feature | Curriculum (Topic Guides) | Capabilities Framework |
|---|---|---|
| What it describes | Clinical and professional subject matter | Observable skills and behaviours |
| Primary purpose | Guides what to learn | Guides how to be assessed |
| Number of items | 32 topic guides | 5 areas / 13 capabilities |
| Linked to exams? | AKT content follows topic guides | WPBA and SCA test capabilities directly |
| Used in ePortfolio? | Topics tagged in learning logs | Capabilities rated in WPBA assessments |
| Post-qualification relevance? | Shapes lifelong CPD topics | Underpins GMC revalidation standards |
How To Actually Use the Curriculum In Training
The curriculum is most useful when it drives your learning rather than just being referenced after the fact.
🗓️ For Planning Your Learning
- At the start of each rotation, scan the 5 capability areas and ask: "Where am I weakest right now?"
- Use the topic guides list to map upcoming tutorials to curriculum areas
- Identify specific topic guides you haven't engaged with at all yet
- Discuss with your Educational Supervisor where gaps exist in your learning log evidence
- Use the RCGP super condensed guides for quick self-assessment before tutorials
📱 For Your 14Fish ePortfolio
- Every learning log entry should reference at least one capability area
- CBDs and COTs are tagged to specific capabilities — make sure yours are varied
- Your personal development plan (PDP) should reference the curriculum directly
- Aim for breadth across the 5 capability areas — ARCP panels look for this
- Don't just map everything to Area B — show engagement with Areas D and E too
A Step-By-Step Approach for Trainees
| Step | What to do | How it helps |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Read the core document | Read "Being a General Practitioner" on the RCGP website — it's shorter than you think. | Gives you the big picture of what you're training towards |
| 2. Map your placements | For each hospital or community rotation, identify which topic guides and capabilities are most relevant | Helps you get more from placements that feel disconnected from GP |
| 3. Self-assess against capabilities | For each of the 5 areas, rate yourself honestly (developing / competent / excellent) | Identifies your blind spots before your ARCP does |
| 4. Target your WPBAs | Deliberately request CBDs/COTs in areas where you have less evidence | Creates a well-rounded portfolio across all capabilities |
| 5. Use topic guides for AKT | Work through the super condensed curriculum guides for each clinical area | Ensures your AKT revision is GP-focused, not hospital-weighted |
| 6. Review with your supervisor | At every formal review, bring the curriculum and ask "where am I against this?" | Makes reviews productive rather than just box-ticking exercises |
The most effective tutorials are those that start with a clinical case or experience and then explicitly map it to curriculum capabilities. Try ending each tutorial with the question: "Which capability area did we just cover, and what would evidence of this look like in your ePortfolio?" This transforms passive learning into active portfolio building — and it's exactly what the ARCP panel is looking for.
🏗️ How Training is Structured — The Practicalities
The current RCGP model is for all training programmes to be constructed with approximately 24 months in general practice posts and 12 months in specialty posts. This is indicative — deaneries in the four devolved nations have flexibility in how they deliver this in practice. Some regions offer longer programmes including academic fellowships, leadership roles, or an ST4 year.
Hospital specialty posts are specifically chosen to reflect problems GPs encounter. Common posts include paediatrics, emergency medicine, psychiatry, care of the elderly, obstetrics and gynaecology, and dermatology. Each post should be referenced to the GP curriculum and capabilities — not treated as a break from GP training.
👩⚕️ Clinical Supervisor (CS)
- Responsible for day-to-day supervision in the clinical setting
- Integrates learning with service provision
- Provides constructive, real-time feedback during the placement
- Completes a Clinical Supervisor's Report (CSR) at the end of each non-primary care post — or when the CS is a different person to the ES
- In hospital posts, the CS is usually a named consultant or senior clinician
- In GP posts, the GP trainer often fulfils both the CS and ES role
👨🏫 Educational Supervisor (ES)
- Monitors overall progress throughout training — the same ES for the full 3 years
- Completes the Educational Supervisor's Report (ESR), which rates the trainee on all 13 capabilities
- Agrees and reviews the Personal Development Plan (PDP)
- Collates portfolio evidence and reviews learning logs
- Makes the final recommendation to the ARCP panel on whether the trainee is ready to progress
- Is almost always a qualified GP trainer in a training practice
An Integrated Training Post (ITP) provides experience in a combination of general practice and other relevant posts in a single placement. This could include community outreach, specialty clinics (e.g., GPwER sessions), integrated care environments, or — in some cases — a non-clinical element such as research or leadership activity. ITPs are increasingly common and are designed to blur the hospital/GP divide by building curriculum evidence from both settings simultaneously.
How the Curriculum is Assessed
The MRCGP has three components, each testing different aspects of the 13 capabilities. All three must be passed, alongside 36 months of training, to be awarded a CCT.
WPBA
Workplace-Based Assessment — a portfolio of evidence built across all three training years. Captures performance in real clinical environments through multiple assessment tools. Directly tests all 5 capability areas.
AKT
Applied Knowledge Test — computer-based, single best answer. Tests clinical medicine, critical appraisal, evidence-based medicine, health informatics, and administrative/organisational knowledge. Content follows the topic guides.
SCA
Simulated Consultation Assessment — 12 × 12-minute online simulated consultations with trained role-players. Tests management of complexity, uncertainty, and risk across face-to-face, telephone, and remote modalities.
📋 WPBA Tools — What They Are and When They Apply
| Abbreviation | Full Name | When Used / Key Notes |
|---|---|---|
| CbD | Case-based Discussion | ST1 and ST2 — minimum 4 per year. Structured oral discussion of a real patient case. Becomes one CAT format in ST3. |
| CAT | Care Assessment Tool | ST3 only — replaces CbDs. Covers a range of structured formats including case reviews, referral reviews, prescribing reviews, and leadership assessments. |
| COT | Consultation Observation Tool | All years. Audio, video, or face-to-face observed consultations. Must include remote consultations (telephone/video). |
| MiniCEX | Mini Clinical Evaluation Exercise | All years. Observed clinical encounters — particularly useful in hospital posts. |
| CEPS | Clinical Examination and Procedural Skills | All years. Five mandatory examinations required for CCT. Must be documented and observed. |
| PSQ | Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire | Patient feedback tool — completed by patients rating the trainee's consultation. |
| MSF | Multi-Source Feedback | Colleague feedback. Required in all training years. |
| LMSF | Leadership Multi-Source Feedback | ST3 only — specific leadership-focused MSF required in addition to standard MSF. |
| CSR | Clinical Supervisor's Report | Completed at the end of each non-primary care post, or when the Clinical Supervisor is different from the Educational Supervisor. |
| QIP | Quality Improvement Project | Minimum 1 completed in a primary care post in ST1 or ST2. Full QI cycle with measurement and change implementation. |
| QIA | Quality Improvement Activity | Required every training year. Captures ongoing engagement in QI, even in years where a full QIP is not required. |
| LA | Leadership Activity | ST3 only. Demonstrates organisational leadership skills — presented to the team and documented in portfolio. |
| Prescribing Assessment | — | ST3 only. Tests prescribing knowledge and safety in the context of GP practice. |
📊 Minimum WPBA Requirements by Training Year
These are minimum requirements. Assessments should be spread throughout the year, with roughly half completed in each 6-monthly review period. More evidence is almost always better — particularly in areas where ESR feedback has identified a weakness.
| Assessment | ST1 | ST2 | ST3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| CbDs (ST1/ST2) / CATs (ST3) | 4 CbDs | 4 CbDs | 5 CATs |
| COTs (all modalities) | 4 | 4 | 7 |
| MSF | 1 | 1 | 1 MSF + 1 Leadership MSF |
| QIP / QIA | 1 QIP (in GP post) | 1 QIA (if QIP done in ST1) | 1 QIA |
| Prescribing Assessment | — | — | 1 |
| Leadership Activity | — | — | 1 |
📈 Progression Point Descriptors
Each of the 13 capabilities has a set of progression point descriptors — descriptions of expected behaviours at three levels. These are used in every ESR and ARCP panel review.
Needs Further Development (NFD)
Expected at the end of ST2. Describes a trainee who is developing capability — safe with supervision, but not yet ready for independent practice.
Note: NFD has three sub-grades at ARCP: NFD — below expectations / NFD — meets expectations / NFD — above expectations.
⚠️ 2025 update: ST1 and ST2 descriptors have been merged into a single set — reflecting flexible programme delivery.
Competent for Licensing
The standard required for CCT. Describes a GP who can practise safely and independently. This is the target for the end of ST3 across all 13 capabilities.
This is the bar — not a grade above average. The majority of successful trainees reach Competent for Licensing in most capabilities by their final ARCP.
Excellent
Above the standard required for licensing. Not expected of all trainees — it represents standout performance in a capability area beyond what is needed for independent practice.
Excellent in one area doesn't compensate for NFD in another — all 13 must reach Competent for Licensing by CCT.
The WPBA capability framework also defines Indicators of Potential Underperformance (IPUs) for each capability. These are specific behavioural warning signs that, if observed, allow early identification of a trainee who may need additional support — before a formal adverse ARCP outcome becomes necessary. Educational Supervisors use IPUs to trigger early conversations and targeted learning plans. Trainees can review the IPU framework on the RCGP website to understand what behaviours raise concern.
This page focuses on the curriculum structure and assessment framework. For detailed AKT and SCA preparation advice, see the dedicated Bradford VTS pages for each exam. For detailed WPBA guidance, see the WPBA section of Bradford VTS.
⚠️ Trainee Traps — Things That Catch People Out
Honest observations from trainees, trainers, and ARCP panel feedback.
The curriculum is not a list of boxes to tick. It's a framework for reflection and development. Trainees who just look for "which competency did I do today" miss the point — and their ePortfolio entries end up shallow and repetitive.
Area D (organisational capability) and Area E (whole person and community) are consistently underrepresented in trainee portfolios. ARCP panels have specific expectations for QI activity, leadership, and holistic care evidence. Don't leave these until the last minute.
Still talking about "competency areas" or "domain 1–6"? The current framework uses "capability areas" A–E. Using outdated language in ARCP reviews or reflections can suggest you haven't engaged with the current curriculum — which is not the impression you want to give.
Every placement — including ST1/ST2 hospital jobs — contributes to the curriculum. But the learning needs to be actively reframed through a GP lens. A thorough ward round teaches medical complexity; an A&E shift teaches urgent care capability. Make that link explicit in your learning logs.
Your Personal Development Plan should actively reference the curriculum and be updated regularly. A PDP that was written in August and never touched again is a wasted opportunity — and a flag for your ARCP reviewer.
Many trainees arrive at tutorials having not looked at the relevant topic guide. Spending ten minutes on the super condensed guide before a tutorial transforms the quality of the discussion — and the quality of what goes into your learning log afterwards.
💡 Insider Pearls
What trainees and trainers wish someone had said at the beginning.
The 5 capability areas map directly onto GMC revalidation standards. Developing good habits of evidence-gathering and reflection against these areas during training means post-CCT revalidation is not a shock but a natural continuation. Trainees who understand this approach CPD very differently.
A deeply reflective learning log entry that maps clearly to a capability area and shows genuine insight is worth far more than ten superficial entries. ARCP reviewers report that the most impressive portfolios contain fewer but richer entries with clear curriculum links. Aim for depth.
Moving from hospital to general practice mid-training is one of the biggest cognitive shifts in medicine. In hospital, you saw a filtered population — sicker patients, more specialist presentations. In GP, you see the unfiltered whole community. The curriculum explicitly acknowledges this and asks you to consciously transfer your learning. Trainees who do this actively (not passively) adjust far faster to the GP environment.
If you trained outside the UK, the curriculum is one of the most useful documents you can read early in your GP training. It explicitly sets out what is expected of a GP in the NHS context — including continuity of care, the generalist mindset, and community-based practice. These differ significantly from hospital-specialist training in many healthcare systems. Use the curriculum actively to identify where your existing experience maps on, and where genuine gaps exist.
A recurring theme from UK GP educators: "Examiners reward safe uncertainty, not false confidence." Trainees who present every case as clear-cut and straightforward are not demonstrating good GP practice — they are demonstrating either inexperience or a lack of insight into the genuine complexity of primary care.
Good GP practice routinely involves diagnostic uncertainty, risk calibration, and honest conversations with patients about what is and isn't known. Showing that you can hold uncertainty safely — acknowledging it, communicating it clearly to the patient, managing it with appropriate safety-netting and follow-up — is a direct demonstration of the capabilities the curriculum is testing. Include it in your logs. Say it out loud in your consultations. It is not a weakness to be hidden.
The single most important mindset shift in GP training is this: moving from being diagnosis-focused (the hospital model) to being risk-focused, continuity-aware, and context-sensitive (the GP model).
In hospital, the question is: "What is wrong with this patient and how do we fix it?" In general practice, the question is: "What is this patient's trajectory, what are the risks in that trajectory, what does this patient understand and want, and what is the most appropriate management given all of that — right now, in this consultation, with this person in front of me?"
This shift shows up in your learning logs, your consultations, and your ESRs. Trainees who continue writing like hospital doctors throughout their GP placements tend to plateau. Those who consciously make this shift — earlier rather than later — tend to accelerate rapidly.
"The trainees who struggle are not less knowledgeable — they are less explicit about their thinking."
Consistent message across UK GP training communities, educator sessions, and ARCP feedback reports
Your job is to show reasoning, show awareness, and show growth. Not just to be good — but to be visibly good.
🗣️ What Trainees & Educators Are Saying
Practical insights gathered from UK GP trainee blogs, deanery guidance, NHS England educator sessions, the GP TiPS podcast (NES Scotland), and the RCGP's own trainee-facing resources. Everything here aligns with official RCGP guidance — but says it in a way the official documents never quite get round to.
🎙️ From the RCGP's Own Educators — Things Worth Knowing
Dr Anil Sood, RCGP Medical Director of Curriculum, has been explicit in educator training sessions: "The RCGP core curriculum is designed to set professional standards through high-level learning outcomes and is not intended as a learning resource or syllabus." (HEE Thames Valley Educators Conference, January 2025)
This matters because trainees sometimes approach the curriculum like a textbook to work through from start to finish. It isn't. It's a framework describing what kind of doctor you should become — and the evidence in your portfolio is how you demonstrate that you're becoming it.
Also from Dr Sood's educator sessions: "The importance of a clinical topic cannot be interpreted by the amount of text in the curriculum. In fact, many important topics are covered by high-level statements rather than in greater detail, which would be too extensive for curriculum purposes."
In practice: don't assume that a topic with a short section in the curriculum is less important or less likely to come up in assessments. Safeguarding, for example, is covered briefly but is mandatory evidence every year. Urgent care, mental health, and end-of-life topics have concise curriculum entries but enormous clinical importance.
A significant but under-publicised change in the 2025 curriculum update: ST1 progression point descriptors have been removed, explicitly "to allow for fairer and more flexible assessment of progress earlier in the programme." This means early-stage trainees will no longer be assessed against a rigid ST1 standard — progression in ST1 is now more individually calibrated. If you're an ST1 trainee worried about what "competent" looks like in year one, discuss this change directly with your Educational Supervisor.
The GP TiPS (Training in Practice Scotland) podcast, produced by NHS Education for Scotland, has a dedicated episode on the RCGP curriculum featuring Dr Anil Sood (RCGP Medical Director of Curriculum). Recorded in November 2024 (before the August 2025 update), the episode explores what the curriculum is, what it is not, and the upcoming changes — framed specifically as an educational resource for Educational Supervisors and trainees.
Find it at: nesgptips.podbean.com — Episode 7. A transcript is linked on the episode page. This is one of the most authoritative and accessible audio discussions of the GP curriculum available, recommended for both trainees and trainers.
📄 The Super Condensed Curriculum Guides — More Useful Than You Think
Dr Sood's educator guidance explicitly frames the super condensed curriculum guides as intended "as a resource for supporting educational conversations in training and as a means of identifying learning needs for professional development." The correct use isn't just to skim before tutorials — it's to run through each one and notice the areas where you feel uncertain. Those are your PDP items.
The full topic guides contain embedded reflective questions. These are not decoration. The SCAprep community has noted that these reflective questions tend to mirror the kinds of probing questions an SCA examiner might use — "How would you adapt this consultation for a patient with learning disability?" Working through these questions with your supervisor or study group is time well spent, both for WPBA evidence and SCA preparation.
📱 The 14Fish ePortfolio — What Nobody Warns You About
ARCP panels can see the "date shared" field on every entry. They know immediately if a year's worth of logs appeared in a two-week sprint before submission. This is one of the most consistent warnings from trainees who've been through panels — and from panels themselves. Batch-entering logs is a red flag, not a shortcut.
Tip: Enter the skeleton of a log between patients and flesh it out later that day. The date it's shared is what matters.
Several deaneries (including NW England) explicitly recommend around three clinical case review entries per week. The key is spreading them evenly across your entire training year. A portfolio that shows consistent, steady engagement reads very differently from one that's "complete" on paper but obviously crammed at the end. The 36 clinical case reviews per year required is a floor, not a ceiling.
One of the most repeated pieces of advice from experienced trainees: share your first few learning log entries with your Educational Supervisor within the first 4–6 weeks of a new post. If you're writing reflections in the wrong style, linking to the wrong capabilities, or missing the point entirely — it's far better to find out then than at your ARCP. Your ES is there to guide you. Let them guide you.
14Fish has a curriculum coverage section showing which topic areas you have and haven't logged against. Most trainees barely look at it. The trainees who thrive at ARCP check it every month or two and deliberately seek out the gaps. ENT, ophthalmology, genomics, and learning disability are the classic "dark corners" that trainees consistently neglect.
Dr Emma, a UK GP trainee whose blog (thegptraineessurvivalguide.com) has helped thousands of registrars, shared a game-changing portfolio strategy: when writing a learning log, keep the capability descriptors open in a separate tab. As you write your reflection, find the descriptor that matches what you actually demonstrated — copy and paste the relevant wording and then justify it specifically with your case. This does two things: it shows your ES exactly what capability you're evidencing, and it makes writing your self-rating during ESR reviews much, much easier. It's not gaming the system — it's showing that you understand the framework.
You can link each log entry to up to two capabilities. Trainees who tick every possible capability for every entry signal that they haven't thought carefully about the link. Pick the one or two most relevant capabilities and write a specific sentence explaining why — that specificity is what ARCP reviewers are looking for. And as Dr Emma notes: a case doesn't need to be dramatic or unusual to be useful for the portfolio — it just needs to provide clear evidence of a capability.
A common mistake: entries that only reflect on what happened in the room. The stronger entries ask "how does this case apply to my wider practice as a GP?" — as Dr Emma illustrates: a patient with DKA in hospital is not just a lesson in acute management; it's a prompt to reflect on the GP role in long-term diabetes management, patient education, and continuity of care. Think wider. That's the generalist lens.
Three focused, SMART PDP objectives — actively updated throughout the year — are far more impressive than a long list of vague aspirations that was last touched at induction. At each tutorial, check whether you've made progress on your PDP entries and document it. A PDP that shows genuine forward movement is one of the clearest indicators to an ARCP panel that a trainee is genuinely self-directed. A static PDP tells a different story — and ARCP panels have specifically flagged inactive PDPs as a concern at adverse outcome reviews.
✍️ How to Write a Strong Learning Log Entry
High-performing trainees across multiple deaneries structure their reflections around a simple three-part framework:
This is not a rigid template — it's a check. If your log can't answer all three, it's missing something important.
One of the most consistent patterns in ESR feedback: trainees write about genuinely complex cases but fail to explicitly state what made them complex. The assessor cannot infer it. You must say it.
❌ Weak: "Patient had diabetes and hypertension."
✅ Strong: "This case was complex due to multimorbidity and competing treatment priorities — optimising glycaemic control risked worsening the patient's already fragile renal function, requiring explicit shared decision-making."
A very common mistake: writing "this demonstrates Leadership and Team Working" at the end of a log without any evidence of either. ARCP reviewers have seen this pattern thousands of times.
Don't declare it — demonstrate it through the narrative. Describe the prioritisation you did. Describe the delegation. Describe the decision you made and why. Let the assessor see the capability. Then the one-line capability link at the end makes sense.
Strong logs show the thinking, not just the outcome. Compare:
❌ Opaque: "I prescribed antibiotics."
✅ Transparent: "Given the patient's comorbidities, age, and borderline inflammatory markers, I decided antibiotics were appropriate despite a technically low CURB-65 score — I explicitly discussed this reasoning with the patient."
The curriculum is assessing the GP you are becoming — not just what you did.
Don't cluster all your complex, multi-morbidity, psychosocial, or uncertainty-laden cases in the final six months of training. ARCP panels can see the dates of all entries. A portfolio where complexity suddenly appears in ST3 looks artificial — and raises questions about whether the earlier training years were genuinely reflective. Aim for a steady distribution of case types across all three years.
✅ Pre-Submission Checklist — 5 Questions Before You Share Any Log
Adapted from real trainee success patterns and ARCP feedback themes. Run through this before sharing.
- Which capability is this entry primarily about? — Can you name it confidently? If not, refocus.
- Where is the complexity? — Have you named it explicitly? Not implied it, but stated it in clear language?
- What decision did you make — and why? — Is your reasoning visible? Could a panel member see your thought process?
- What uncertainty existed? — Have you acknowledged it honestly? Safe uncertainty is a strength, not a weakness.
- What will you do differently next time? — Is there genuine learning here? Even a small change counts. No learning = incomplete reflection.
If you can answer all five clearly → share it. If any are vague → improve it first.
🪤 Hidden Traps — Things That Catch Trainees Off Guard
"Needs Further Development" (NFD) is the expected grade for ST1 and early ST2 trainees in almost every capability area. It signals exactly where you should be — progressing. The RCGP is explicit about this. With the 2025 update removing ST1 progression descriptors entirely, early training assessment is now even more flexible. Trainees who panic when they see NFD — or whose supervisors treat it as a problem — are misunderstanding the framework.
A repeatedly cited oversight: many trainees complete safeguarding training once and consider it done. Safeguarding children AND adults knowledge updates, plus reflective entries, are required in each year of training (ST1, ST2, and ST3). This catches people out at ARCP more often than it should. Set a reminder at the start of each training year.
Receiving critical feedback in a CBD or COT can feel uncomfortable — but burying it is the wrong approach. ARCP panels look favourably on trainees who respond to constructive feedback explicitly in a subsequent learning log: "This CBD showed I sometimes move too quickly to management — here's what I did differently." That learning arc shows exactly the self-awareness the curriculum values under Area A (Fitness to Practise and An Ethical Approach).
Clinical Examination and Procedural Skills (CEPS) consistently fall to the bottom of the list. ARCP panels look for a range of documented, observed examinations — including female genital examination, male genital examination, and breast examination. Don't leave CEPS until ST3 and discover a gap with three months to go. Plan these from the start of each placement.
A specific pattern flagged repeatedly by ARCP panels: trainees who are clinically competent but whose portfolios show no depth of reasoning, no acknowledged uncertainty, no apparent growth. Panels describe it as "no concerns, but lacks depth."
Being safe is necessary but not sufficient. The curriculum assesses whether you are becoming a thinking GP — someone who can articulate why they made decisions, what alternatives existed, and what was uncertain. Without that visible reasoning, a technically fine portfolio can still result in an adverse ARCP outcome.
Trainees who write very long, detailed case histories in their learning logs — full presenting complaint, full PMH, full examination findings, full management plan — consistently receive weaker ESR ratings than those who write shorter, sharper, more reflective entries.
A log is not a clerk's note. The clinical detail should be minimal — enough to provide context. The reflection is what the entry is for. If your entry is 600 words of history and 50 words of reflection, it's the wrong way round.
Many trainees avoid writing about diagnostic uncertainty, borderline decisions, or cases where they weren't sure — worried it will reflect badly. This is the opposite of the truth.
A GP who always sounds completely certain is a GP who isn't being honest. Acknowledging uncertainty — and then describing how you managed it safely — is a mark of professional maturity. Examiners and ARCP panels are looking for this. An entry that says "I was uncertain about X, so I did Y, safety-netted with Z, and arranged follow-up" is far more impressive than one that pretends every decision was straightforward.
Area E of the curriculum — caring for the whole person, community health — is consistently the weakest capability area in trainee portfolios. It's not just about QI projects. It shows up in every consultation.
What high-performing trainees include:
- Social factors affecting the patient's management choices
- Access issues — transport, language, digital exclusion
- Local referral pathways and community resources used
- Health inequalities relevant to the patient's situation
Example: "The patient's limited mobility and lack of transport affected the management options we could realistically offer." — One sentence. Big difference.
🏥 Making the Most of Hospital Rotations
Hospital posts feel designed for a different specialty. But the RCGP itself states: "It is helpful to consider how you can apply each specialty to general practice, particularly when reflecting for your Trainee Portfolio." (RCGP GP Registrar Member Guidance)
The trainee community has developed this into a specific practice: actively reframing every clinical experience through a GP lens as it happens. A ward round with a patient who has heart failure, diabetes, and CKD is Medical Complexity (Area C) and Clinical Management (Area B). A difficult prognosis conversation is Communicating and Consulting (Area A). End-of-life planning is the Life Stages topic guide in action.
Trainees who do this write rich learning logs from hospital posts. Those who wait until GP placements to start documenting miss months of valuable evidence — and often arrive at their first GP ARCP with thin hospital-placement portfolios.
At the start of every post, complete your Placement Planning Meeting with your Clinical Supervisor and use it to explicitly map: "Which curriculum topic guides and capability areas does this post offer the best learning for? Which are harder to evidence here?" This conversation — documented in the learning log — is exactly the kind of strategic, self-directed learning the curriculum values. It also makes your curriculum coverage look deliberate and thoughtful rather than accidental, which ARCP panels notice.
📅 The 2025 Curriculum Update — The Complete Picture
The RCGP describes the 2025 update as an evolution: the overall three-year structure, assessment package (WPBA, AKT, SCA), and 14Fish ePortfolio functionality are all unchanged. Existing evidence in your portfolio does not need to be remapped. However, the content layer has genuinely evolved — and several areas require active engagement.
| Change category | What changed | Impact on trainees |
|---|---|---|
| New content areas | Practitioner wellbeing added as an explicit learning outcome — not just implied under Fitness to Practise | Learning logs and entries around self-care, stress management, and supporting colleagues now have direct curriculum value |
| Consulting modalities | Remote, hybrid, and in-person consulting formally recognised across all capabilities | COT assessments must include remote consultations; learning logs should evidence telephone/video consulting |
| Progression descriptors | ST1 and ST2 descriptors merged into a single set (reflecting flexible programme delivery); separate descriptor set remains for ST3 | Early training assessment is more flexible — no longer assessed against a rigid ST1 standard. Discuss with your ES what this means for your first ARCP. |
| New standalone guides | Learning Disability and Maternity and Reproductive Health now exist as standalone clinical topic guides | Two previously under-represented areas now have dedicated curriculum coverage and must be addressed explicitly in the portfolio |
| Neurodevelopmental guides | The former neurodevelopmental guide split into two: Neurodevelopmental Conditions and Neurodiversity (autism/ADHD focus) and Learning Disability (standalone) | Both guides now require separate engagement — one entry covering both is no longer sufficient |
| Planetary health | Climate change, sustainable prescribing, and environmental health moved from peripheral to embedded in Area E and multiple topic guides | QI projects or learning logs with a sustainability dimension now directly evidence Area E capabilities |
| Personalised care | Social determinants of health and personalised care perspectives more prominent throughout | Including social context explicitly in learning logs and consultation entries is now more evidentially important than before |
| Decolonising | Formal process to address colonial legacies in medical education; language made more inclusive; prior international experience more explicitly recognised | Particularly relevant for IMGs — the curriculum now explicitly validates your prior healthcare system experience |
📝 Topic Guide Renames — 2019 → 2025
Several topic guides were renamed in 2025. The content is broadly the same — the new names are more specific and accurate. This is for reference only — all existing evidence remains valid.
| 2019 Name | 2025 Name |
|---|---|
| Allergy and Immunology | Allergy and Clinical Immunology |
| Gynaecology and Breast | Gynaecology and Breast Health |
| Infectious Disease and Travel Health | Infectious Diseases and Travel Health |
| Kidney and Urology | Renal and Urology |
| Neurodevelopmental conditions (single guide) | Split into: Neurodevelopmental Conditions and Neurodiversity + Learning Disability (new standalone) |
| (Within Life Stages only) | Maternity and Reproductive Health (new standalone clinical guide) |
🔄 Capability Name Changes — 2019 → 2025
Several capability names were modernised in 2025. These are name changes only — the underlying requirements are largely the same. Crucially, FourteenFish will automatically relabel existing portfolio entries to use the new capability names — you do not need to re-tag or re-upload any evidence.
| 2019 Capability Name | 2025 Capability Name |
|---|---|
| Maintaining an ethical approach | An ethical approach |
| Communication and consultation skills | Communicating and consulting |
| Data gathering and interpretation | Data gathering and interpretation (unchanged) |
| Clinical examination and procedural skills | Clinical examination and procedural skills (CEPS) (unchanged) |
| Making decisions | Decision-making and diagnosis |
| Clinical management | Clinical management (unchanged) |
| Managing medical complexity | Medical complexity |
| Working with colleagues and in teams | Team working |
| Improving performance, learning and teaching | Performance, learning and teaching |
| Organisational management and leadership | Organisation, management and leadership |
| Practising holistically, promoting health and safeguarding | Holistic practice, health promotion and safeguarding |
| Community orientation | Community health and environmental sustainability |
All portfolio entries tagged under old capability names are automatically carried forward. You do not need to re-tag or re-link any existing evidence. Simply use the new names going forward in any entries created after August 2025.
👥 The Hidden Power of Peer Learning
Half-day release (HDR) sessions are often undervalued, especially early in training. But the GP training community consistently emphasises how much rich learning happens through peer discussion — seeing how other trainees handle the same clinical problems, sharing uncertainty, and realising your struggles are shared, not unique. The RCGP acknowledges this explicitly: "Peer learning groups... have a long tradition and are highly valued by GP registrars." Treat HDR as active curriculum coverage.
Trainees who form small study groups consistently report better AKT outcomes and greater SCA readiness than those who revise in isolation. Regular case discussions with fellow registrars — sharing tricky consultations and talking through clinical uncertainty — is how a large amount of real capability development actually happens. This directly mirrors the curriculum's emphasis on peer learning and reflective practice.
🎧 UK GP Training Podcasts — The Ones Worth Your Time
These UK-focused audio resources cover the curriculum, capabilities, portfolio, and training experience from educator and trainee perspectives:
- GP TiPS (NES Scotland) — Episode 7 features Dr Anil Sood (RCGP Medical Director of Curriculum) on what the curriculum is, what it isn't, and how to use it. Also has episodes on the SCA, AKT, and ARCP. Officially produced by NHS Education for Scotland. Transcripts available. Strongly recommended for both trainees and trainers.
- ACE GP Training Podcast (NHS England East of England) — 10-episode series covering consulting skills, exam preparation, wellbeing, and life after training. Episode 5 on consulting skills is particularly relevant to the curriculum's Area A capabilities. Search "ACE GP Training" on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
- Somewhere in Between (RCGP) — The RCGP's early careers podcast for GP registrars and First5 GPs. Real conversations on navigating training, building the portfolio, and the transition to independent practice.
- InnovAiT Podcast (RCGP) — Designed by GP trainees, for GP trainees, accompanying the InnovAiT journal. Covers clinical topics through a trainee lens. Available on all major podcast platforms and linked from the RCGP website.
- RCGP eLearning Podcast — Over 100 episodes on clinical and professional topics aligned to the curriculum. Free. Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and the RCGP website. Particularly useful for filling curriculum topic guide gaps on the go.
Note: The RCGP also has an official YouTube channel (@RCGPVideos) with curriculum-related content. Specific video transcripts were not directly accessible during the preparation of this page — but the channel is worth exploring alongside the podcast resources above.
🎓 Trainer & TPD Pearls
How to teach, assess, and talk about the curriculum with your trainees.
Tutorial Ideas
- Start a new tutorial cycle by asking the trainee to self-rate across all 5 capability areas — this surfaces their blind spots immediately
- After any clinical encounter, ask: "Which capability did that test, and what evidence would that produce?"
- Use the topic guide structure to plan a year's worth of tutorials — one topic area per week is manageable and comprehensive
- Explore the new topic guides (Genomic Medicine, Neurodevelopmental Conditions) — many trainers haven't engaged with these yet
Common Learner Blind Spots
- Trainees consistently underweight the professional topic guides — especially Population and Planetary Health, and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
- Many trainees cannot articulate what "medical complexity" means in practice — it's worth exploring explicitly with a case discussion
- Team working (Area C) is often claimed but rarely evidenced meaningfully — challenge trainees to bring a specific MDT example
- The GMC Good Medical Practice 2024 mapping (now in the curriculum appendix) is a new area many trainers haven't explored — it's worth reading alongside the capabilities
- "Looking at the 5 capability areas — where would you say you're most developed right now, and where do you feel less confident?"
- "Can you bring me an example from your last week of practice that demonstrates Area C — managing complexity?"
- "Which topic guides haven't you covered at all yet? And is there a clinical reason why?"
- "What would a patient say about how you demonstrated Area E — caring for the whole person — in that consultation?"
- "If I asked the ARCP panel to look at your portfolio today, which capability area would have the weakest evidence?"
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers to the questions that come up most often.
Am I expected to cover ALL of the curriculum in 3 years?
No — and this is stated explicitly in the RCGP curriculum itself. The curriculum is vast. You are expected to cover most areas to some degree, but not every topic in depth. Your training should give you sufficient breadth to practise independently, but depth develops throughout your career. The curriculum is a guide, not a to-do list.
How is the curriculum different from the old "13 competencies"?
The old RCGP curriculum described 13 competency areas (e.g. Communication and Consultation Skills, Medical Complexity, etc.). The current curriculum retains 13 specific capabilities, but now organises them within 5 broader areas of capability. The language has shifted from "competency" to "capability" to reflect a more holistic and contextual view of GP performance. The substance is largely similar, but the framing is more nuanced.
Where do I find the topic guides?
All topic guides are available on the RCGP website at rcgp.org.uk/mrcgp-exams/gp-curriculum. The RCGP also offers "super condensed curriculum guides" — brilliant one-page summaries of each topic guide. These are free and available to download. Start there before diving into the full topic guide.
How does the curriculum link to my 14Fish ePortfolio?
When you add a learning log, WPBA, or other entry to your 14Fish ePortfolio, you tag it to curriculum capabilities. This creates a map of your evidence against the 5 capability areas. Your ARCP panel reviews this map to assess your progress. The more deliberately you link entries to specific capabilities, the more clearly your development shows.
Do hospital placements (ST1/ST2) count towards the curriculum?
Absolutely — and this is one of the most important things to understand early in training. Every placement contributes to your curriculum development. However, the contribution has to be actively claimed through reflection, learning log entries, and WPBAs. A hospital placement that produces no ePortfolio entries contributes nothing — not because it wasn't valuable, but because you didn't document the learning. Your trainer can help you reframe hospital experiences through the GP curriculum lens.
What are the new areas added in the 2025 curriculum?
The August 2025 curriculum update introduced two new clinical topic guides: Genomic Medicine and Neurodevelopmental Conditions and Neurodiversity. It also strengthened emphasis on environmental sustainability (now embedded in Area E), health equity, earlier cancer detection, digital technology in primary care, and the expanded GP definition mapping to the 2023 consensus statement. The core capability framework structure remained the same.
What do IMGs find most confusing about the curriculum?
The biggest areas of confusion for internationally trained doctors tend to be: (1) the emphasis on continuity of care as a core GP value — this is less prominent in many other healthcare systems; (2) the expectation of generalism across all ages and conditions rather than a defined specialist scope; and (3) the professional topic guides — particularly around leadership, QI, and population health — which may feel unfamiliar compared to hospital training pathways. Reading "Being a General Practitioner" (the core curriculum document) early in training is strongly recommended for all IMGs.
🎯 Final Take-Home Points
- The RCGP curriculum is titled "Being a General Practitioner" — updated August 2025. It is the educational framework for the 3-year GP training programme.
- It describes 5 Areas of Capability containing 13 specific capabilities — this is the current language. "Competencies" is the old framework.
- It is supplemented by 32 topic guides (6 professional, 4 life stages, 22 clinical) — including new guides on Genomic Medicine and Neurodevelopmental Conditions (2025).
- The curriculum is a compass, not a syllabus — you won't cover everything, but you should engage with all five capability areas meaningfully.
- Every 14Fish ePortfolio entry should be mapped to a capability area. A rich portfolio demonstrates breadth across all 5 areas — not just clinical skills.
- Areas D and E (organisational capability and whole-person care) are chronically under-represented in trainee portfolios. Address this early.
- Hospital placements fully count towards the curriculum — but only if you claim the learning through documentation and reflection.
- The curriculum maps directly to GMC Good Medical Practice 2024 — habits built in training serve you through revalidation for your entire career.
- IMGs: reading "Being a General Practitioner" early is one of the most valuable things you can do to understand what UK GP training is actually trying to achieve.
- The best trainees don't just cover the curriculum — they use it deliberately to identify gaps, plan learning, and build evidence. That's the difference between passing training and thriving in it.