CAREER PATHWAYS IN THE UK

CAREER PATHWAYS IN UK FOR INTERNAL MEDICINE SPECIALTIES

There are basically 2 ways through which you can enter into the UK training for general internal medicine and its allied specialties and these are PLAB pathway and MRCP pathway. I will explain both of these but first, let’s go through the basic structure of the training system in the UK.

1. Foundation Year Training (FY1 and FY2; One year each)

2. Internal Medicine Training (IMT; 3 years)

3. Specialty Training (ST 3-6 years depending on your program)

Let’s discuss them one by one.

FOUNDATION YEAR 1 (FY1)

This is equivalent to your House Job. If you have a dual nationality, you can work either in the UK as FY1 or in your home country as House officer. However, the IELTS conditions for FY1 are a bit tougher, you have to score 7.5 in each section as compared to 7 as required for PLAB.

FOUNDATION YEAR 2 (FY2)

If you have done FY1 in the UK, you can easily get into FY2. However, if you have completed FY1 in your home country, you will probably never get FY2 in the UK because seats are very limited. What do you do now? You opt for non-training jobs which are relatively easier to get. After working 2-3 months, you will get your FY2 competencies (aka CREST form) signed by your consultant and then you can apply for Internal Medicine Training. Recently, they have started a new program called WAST (Widening Access to Specialist Training), you can apply here as well. It is also equivalent to FY2 and will help you get your competencies signed. 

INTERNAL MEDICINE TRAINING; IMT (Previously called CORE MEDICAL TRAINING; CMT)

This is your 3-year Internal Medicine residency. There are two rounds where you can apply for IMT, round 1 is in November and round 2 is in February every year. During these three years of IMT, you complete your Royal College Exams and get your MRCP diploma. At the end you will get your core competencies signed from your supervisor and after that you are eligible to apply for specialty.

SPECIALITY TRAINING (ST)

Depending on your specialty, it takes 3-6 years for your specialty training to complete, for example 3 years for Rheumatology and 5 years in case of Cardiology. After completion of ST, you will get your CCT (Certificate of Completion of Training) and become a consultant. A common myth among people is that we will get an FRCP degree after specialty training. FRCP is an honorary degree and you must work for years and earn a name for yourself before they finally nominate you for FRCP. (However, FRCS is different because here you have to sit an exam to get your FRCS).

Now let’s go through both PLAB and MRCP pathways separately.

PLAB PATHWAY

If you are non-British, complete your HJ, give PLAB, apply for a non-training job, get your CREST form signed and get enrolled into IMT, get your MRCP diploma and core medical competencies signed and apply for ST training, get your CCT and voila you are a consultant. If you have a British passport, no need to do HJ here, clear your PLAB exams and apply for FY1. The rest is the same.

MRCP PATHWAY

This is an alternative route if you don’t want to pursue the PLAB pathway. After completing HJ, get a job in Pakistan and clear your MRCP exams. After getting your MRCP diploma, you can get registered with GMC and apply for a non-training job as registrar. After getting your core medical competencies signed you can apply for ST and get your CCT after completing your training.

P.S Route to Surgical Training in the UK might be a bit different from this. We are working on it too and soon we will upload a blog about Surgery Training as well.