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It was great to see our trainees’ meeting on the Friday at Glasgow so well attended and to be able to put some faces to names!

Adam Gordon (ETC) updated the group on what is happening with piloting the new assessment methods, and with the introduction of e-portfolios.

The greater part of the meeting was spent discussing trainees’ views on the Knowledge Based Assessment; this being the main issue that I have been concerned with since becoming Chair of the trainees committee in November last year. It has now been confirmed that the exam will be compulsory for STs who will be expected to sit it from year 4 onwards. Old-style SpRs do not have to take the exam, and are advised against doing so voluntarily by the Education and Training committee.

Concerns are numerous and range from the underlying validity of the exam, to the effectiveness of the computer system on which it will be administered (confidence is low, particularly among those directly affected by MTAS last year). The trainees feel that the exam has the potential to de-stabilise and harm the speciality. There are concerns about financial implications, at both an individual and Society level. There are also worries that candidates without a UK CCT in Geriatric Medicine could take the exam and then “pass themselves off” as Geriatricians. There is unanimous feeling that setting the cost of the exam at £800 is unjustifiable. Genuine concerns of hardship exist amongst the flexible trainees.

I have put together a summary of the meeting (which is too long for this column), but it has been emailed to Trainees via their regional reps. If anyone has not received a copy of this, please email me at the email address in the printed version of the newsletter, and I will add you to the circulation list.

The KBA will be discussed again at the forthcoming UKMC meeting, and I will be sending out a further update, hopefully with more answers to our concerns.

Zoe Wyrko
Chair, Trainees’ Group

BGS Newsletter, May 2008
Issue 16 ISSN 1748-6343 16