RCPsych must reconsider examination decision By Dr Waqqas Khokhar, CT3 trainee - 19th January 2010 9:33 am A grave injustice has been inflicted on psychiatric trainees - particularly the staff and associate specialist group - by its own royal college. The Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych) has seen fit to invalidate a pass in MRCPsych Part 1 retrospectively. Under the old system, the exams were divided into Parts 1 and 2. Each part had a written and a clinical component. But, the RCPsych changed its exams to three written papers followed by a clinical assessment of skills and competencies examination (CASC). In this system, a pass in paper 1 and 2 can be banked forever. However, after passing paper 3 of the exam, you get four chances at CASC. If you fail to pass it within an allocated timeframe, you are expected to re-sit paper 3 and then the cycle continues. Part of the process was that the college set a validity period for those who hold a pass in Part I of the previous format. The college decided that a pass in Part I will be expired, and will not count towards completing the membership exams, by July 2010. The trainees were not aware or informed that this could be the case when they sat for this exam. The regulations of the previous format of the exam (to the best of our knowledge) did not state a number on attempts or period of validity. Part I candidates had to endure the stress of sitting the OSCE exam, which took a lot of effort and competence. This is now going to be discarded, and candidates are disadvantaged by the above decision. What makes it worse is the fact that the college decided to consider a pass in papers 1 and 2 permanent in the new exam system. This has been a source of great distress for many trainees and SAS doctors who feel cheated and abused at the hands of their own college. What a waste of time and money for them. The specialty of psychiatry is already experiencing the consequences of the MMC debacle. Recruitment and retention problems in this already battered specialty are surfacing and this decision will further aggravate the problem as many people are considering working abroad. Countries like Australia and Canada are already actively recruiting experienced psychiatrists from the UK. A group of trainee and SAS psychiatrists have recently set up an e-petition calling for the RCPsych to reconsider its decision. It’s been signed by 200 doctors and I urge readers to put their names towards helping our cause. We are even considering a legal challenge. It’s time the college listened to its trainees and SAS doctors whose careers are being compromised.
