1. Can I enter geriatric medicine training via the Alternative Certificate route?
Yes, you can! If you have not completed or will not complete Internal Medicine Stage 1 Training, you will need to utilise an ‘Alternative Certificate’ to Enter Group 1 Higher Physician Specialty Training. This includes applicants applying from outside from the UK, as well as trainees who have completed Core Medical Training (the forerunner of IMT).
The Alternative Certificate provides a list of core capabilities required by the IMT programme, hence necessary for Higher Specialty Training. You must demonstrate all capabilities and competencies asked of you on the form to your signatory, to satisfy them that you can successfully progress to ST4.
The Alternative Certificate must be completed and signed in full, so that it can be uploaded at the start of any application to Higher Physician Specialty Training.
2. How do I access the Alternative Certificate?
The latest version of the certificate is available here: https://www.phstrecruitment.org.uk/documents.
For 2023 recruitment, either a previous signed 2022 version or a newly signed 2023 or 2024 version of the certificate can be used. For 2024 recruitment, only the 2024 version of the certificate can be used.
3. Who can complete the Alternative Certificate?
The signatory of your certificate must be:
A consultant in a physician specialty or alternative specialty who holds the MRCP (UK) Diploma or is a fellow of a UK Royal College of Physicians (Edinburgh, Glasgow or London).
Who has worked within the NHS within five years of the date the certificate is signed or have supervised you working in the Republic of Ireland.
Have accurate knowledge of IMT stage 1 curriculum
And
A consultant you have worked with in a medical specialty, emergency medicine or intensive care post, for a minimum continuous period of three months (whole-time equivalent) within 3 years of the advertised post start date (e.g. January 1st 2020 for 2023 recruitment).
If they are not registered with the General Medical Council, you will need to scan and attach adequate evidence of their professional status with your Alternative Certificate.
Signatories will use first-hand knowledge of your practice, discussion with previous clinical supervisors, and viewing your physical or electronic portfolio. They can sign-off capabilities which they have not personally witnessed, provided that they have satisfactory evidence that the competencies have been gained.
4. Do you have any tips for completing the Alternative Certificate successfully?
Review the Certificate early (at least 6 months prior to your planned geriatric medicine application), to identify experience and competency gaps for which you will need to collect evidence prior to sign-off.
Identify and approach an appropriate consultant early on who directly works with you. This will allow them to sign off many facets of certificate through direct observation. Review the certificate together and discuss additional evidence needed to attain successful sign-off.
You may need to arrange additional placements in geriatric medicine, critical care medicine and acute take medicine to satisfy clinical experience requirements (capability rather than time-based.)
Consider signing up and paying for access to the JRCPTB ePortfolio for 12 months. This will provide a system for you to collect electronic Supervised Learning Events from clinical supervisors, as well as the mandatory numbers of Multiple Consultant Reports and Multi-Source Feedback.
The JRCPTB ePortfolio also provides template assessment forms for sign-off of a completed Quality Improvement Project.
Many mandatory training courses will cover evidence for the “Professional Behaviour and Trust” section.
It is useful to maintain a procedures logbook and record of acute medical consultations (to prove have conducted minimum of 500). A template of this logbook is available at IMT acute take calculator and log of clinics and procedures | JRCPTB