College places Cornerstone Teaching Module in abeyance

22 April 2021

College CEO Lynne Hayman (pictured right) has made the decision to suspend the College’s Cornerstone Teaching Module for the rest of 2021. Lynne’s decision was made based on information from staff in the Quality team that GP teachers were finding the Teaching module and its requirements needed further review.

On 22 April 2021, the College emailed all practices that are currently enrolled in the Teaching module and asked them to stop working on it immediately. 

Lynne Hayman says, “The College is currently reviewing the General Practice Education Programme (GPEP) curriculum, so it makes sense to re-evaluate the Teaching module at the same time, and to align it to a new curriculum starting in 2022.” 

“Practices that have proven expertise in hosting GP registrars, or that have an experienced GPEP teacher will not be disadvantaged by the suspension of the Teaching module. They will still be eligible for consideration or a GPEP registrar placement for the second half of 2021 or first half of 2022.”

Suspending the Teaching module doesn’t affect the rigour of the College’s medical education programmes. The College ensures all GPs who are Medical Educators have completed the teacher accreditation process, which confirms they understand the curriculum and are competent in teaching it.

The College had reviewed the Teaching module earlier in 2021 following initial feedback from GP teachers.  After taking into consideration all the issues raised, it has been decided that placing the Teaching module into abeyance to allow a fulsome review and alignment to the new curriculum is the right thing to do.  

This decision does not impact the other Cornerstone Quality modules of CQI and Equity. It is important to note that Foundation Standard certification together with Equity and CQI module accreditation is still a requirement for hosting a GPEP1 registrar.