Key Facts about Recruitment
- HOW— national scheme
- www.gprecruitment.org.uk
- WHEN— early January 2009
- DEADLINE— mid January 2009
- JOBS OFFERED— late March 2009
Key Facts about Recruitment Process
- NUMBER OF STAGES— 4
- long listing against basic eligibility criteria
- short listing through 2 papers under exam conditions
- 3 exercises at a selection assessment centre day
- allocation of posts to successful candidates by rank
Recruitment to all GP VTS schemes in the UK is through The National Recruitment Office for GP Training (www.gprecruitment.org.uk). Applications are accepted online, starting early January ,for recruitment to the scheme in both August and the following February. There are generally 10 ST1 places available in both August and February on the Norwich Scheme and around 200 in the East of England Deanery.
For entry to the scheme you will need a primary medical qualification (medical degree), to be fully registered with the GMC at the time of application, to be able to provide evidence of achievement of foundation competencies and to hold a current driving licence valid for the UK. Precise details can be found at www.gprecruitment.org.uk[specific link].
The Application process has 3 stages. The first is a long-listing process, which determines basic eligibility criteria. Stage 2 comprises an assessment under examination conditions with papers in 1) clinical problem solving [sample questions] and 2) Professional Dilemmas [sample questions]. The papers are designed to assess the essential competencies in the National Person Specification. The East of England Stage 2 assessments will take place on Saturday 21 February 2009 at UNEX Towerlands in Braintree. Up to 900 candidates will be assessed during the day, 600 in the morning and up to a further 300 in the afternoon
Stage 3 is held at a Selection Assessment Centre (SAC). The venue for the East of England deanery is the Rowley Mile Racecourse in Newmarket. Candidates complete 3 exercises observed by trained assessors; a simulated consultation between candidate and actor, a written exercise and a group exercise between 4 candidates [sample exercises].
Stage 4 is the allocation to jobs to successful candidates in order of rank, which is determined by the scores at stages 2 and 3. Places are limited, so not every successful candidate is guaranteed the offer of a training place.