The Postgraduate Medical Education and Training Board (PMETB) was the non-departmental public body

Non-departmental public body

In the United Kingdom, a non-departmental public body —often referred to as a quango—is a classification applied by the Cabinet Office, Treasury, Scottish Government and Northern Ireland Executive to certain types of public bodies...

 responsible for postgraduate medical education and training in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 (UK). PMETB is no longer in operation, following its merger with the General Medical Council

General Medical Council

The General Medical Council registers and regulates doctors practising in the United Kingdom. It has the power to revoke or restrict a doctor's registration if it deems them unfit to practise...

 on 1 April 2010. All PMETB operations were transferred to the GMC at this time.

PMETB - 2005 - 30 March 2010

PMETB ensured that postgraduate training for doctors was of the highest standard. It was accountable to the Parliament of the United Kingdom

Parliament of the United Kingdom

The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...

 and acted independently of government. GPs and specialists within the National Health Service

National Health Service (England)

The National Health Service or NHS is the publicly funded healthcare system in England. It is both the largest and oldest single-payer healthcare system in the world. It is able to function in the way that it does because it is primarily funded through the general taxation system, similar to how...

 (NHS) or working privately in England had to comply with the standards it established. PMETB in conjunction with COPMeD ran an annual UK-wide survey of trainee doctors.

PMETB was established by The General and Specialist Medical Practice (Education, Training and Qualifications) Order 2003 ("the Order") to develop a single, unifying framework for postgraduate medical education and training and began operating on 30 September 2005. It took over the responsibilities of the Specialist Training Authority of the medical royal colleges

Medical Royal Colleges

There are a number of medical royal colleges in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Each is responsible for a different speciality within the medical field...

 and the Joint Committee on Postgraduate General Practice Training.

Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT)

A Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT) or GPCCT (for GPs) is awarded to doctors who have successfully followed and completed a PMETB approved curriculum in a PMETB approved training programme.

CESRs and CEGPRs

PMETB developed and introduced a system that assesses applications from doctors who have not followed a traditional training programme but who may have gained the same level of skills and knowledge as CCT holders. Prior to their establishment, there were only very limited ways for these doctors to join the specialist or GP registers, with consequent limitations to their career development.

Certificate of Eligibility for Specialist Registration (CESR)

Doctors who wish to join the specialist register and have not followed a full PMETB approved training programme can apply under Article 14(4) of The General and Specialist Medical Practice Order for a Certificate confirming Eligibility for Specialist Registration (CESR).

Certificate confirming Eligibility for General Practice Registration (CEGPR)

GPs who have not followed a PMETB approved training programme can apply under Article 11 of the Order for a Certificate confirming Eligibility for General Practice Registration (CEGPR).

Achievements

PMETB's website lists its achievements since 2008. These include:

• publishing the first-ever generic standards for postgraduate training across all medical specialties: bringing consistency and greater transparency to the postgraduate training of doctors.
• approving curricula for all 57 specialties, plus 33 sub-specialties, against new standards for curricula drawn up by PMETB.
• developing and introducing new equivalence routes to specialist registration. Prior to PMETB's establishment there were limited pathways for doctors who had not followed a traditional training programme to join the Specialist or GP Registers. Consequently, their career development opportunities were limited..

Criticism

In the past, PMETB was criticised by some medical royal colleges for adding bureaucracy, poor communication and a lack of robustness in its regulation of postgraduate medical training. Many of these problems relate to the initial stages of the Board's operation and came to a head in summer 2007. The Board's relationships with the medical royal colleges subsequently improved with a new contract signed between the two bodies which dealt with concerns the medical royal colleges had about the funding of their work.

Merger with the General Medical Council

In February 2008 the Secretary of State for Health

Secretary of State for Health

Secretary of State for Health is a UK cabinet position responsible for the Department of Health.The first Boards of Health were created by Orders in Council dated 21 June, 14 November, and 21 November 1831. In 1848 a General Board of Health was created with the First Commissioner of Woods and...

, Alan Johnson

Alan Johnson

Alan Arthur Johnson is a British Labour Party politician who served as Home Secretary from June 2009 to May 2010. Before that, he filled a wide variety of cabinet positions in both the Blair and Brown governments, including Health Secretary and Education Secretary. Until 20 January 2011 he was...

, agreed with recommendations of the Tooke Report

John Tooke

Professor Sir John Edward Tooke FRCP FMedSci is the Inaugural Dean of the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry, and of the Peninsula Medical School which was its first constituent...

 which advised that PMETB should merge with the General Medical Council

General Medical Council

The General Medical Council registers and regulates doctors practising in the United Kingdom. It has the power to revoke or restrict a doctor's registration if it deems them unfit to practise...

(GMC). Whilst recognising the achievements made by PMETB, Professor John Tooke concluded that regulation needed to be combined into one body; that there should be one organisation that looked after what he called 'the continuum of medical education', from the moment someone chooses a career in medicine until the point that they retire.

The merger, which took place on 1 April 2010, was welcomed by both PMETB and the GMC.