Specialty Registrar is a new training grade introduced in 2007 into UK medical training as part of the Modernising Medical Careers programme. It is intended to replace the old Specialist Registrar training places used to train doctors up to the specialist level needed to become a Consultant Doctor. In the UK medical system, a specialist is someone who has the necessary experience and qualifications to be placed on the GMC's Specialist Register. Only persons on the Specialist Register can be appointed consultants in the National Health Service (NHS). The knowledge of the role of registrars is necessary to pass many medical school exams.
Training to become a General Practitioner will also involve a Specialty Registrar training scheme and completion will lead to eligibility for entry on the General Practice Register[1].
Specialty Registrar training involves structured specialist or general practitioner training programmes that begin directly after completion of the 2 year foundation training programme[1]. Completing the training scheme will lead to the award of a Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT), subject to satisfactory in-training assessment and progress; this is a necessary pre-requisite for entry onto the Specialist Register or GP Register[1].
The curricular used for the different specialty training schemes will be set by the relevant medical royal college[2]. Under the old system, before applying for the old Registrar posts, applicants were required to have sat and passed part, or all, of a medical royal college's membership examinations while still a Senior House Officer. Under the new system Foundation doctors do not need to sit these exams as they play no part in the selection process and are actively discouraged from doing so[3]. It is however still common practice to begin to take these exams during the second year of the foundation programme and is recommended by experts outside MMC [4]. The appropriate royal college exams will now be taken during the first year or two of the Specialty Registrar training scheme[3].
| Old system | New system (Modernising Medical Careers) | |||
| Year 1: | Pre-registration house officer (PRHO) - one year | Foundation Doctor (FY1 and FY2) - 2 years | ||
| Year 2: | Senior house officer (SHO) a minimum of two years, although often more |
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| Year 3: | Specialty Registrar (StR) in a hospital speciality: minimum six years |
Specialty Registrar (StR) in general practice: three years |
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| Year 4: | Specialist registrar four to six years |
GP registrar- one year | ||
| Year 5: | General practitioner total time in training: 4 years |
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| Years 6-8: | General practitioner total time in training: 5 years |
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| Year 9: | Consultant total time in training: minimum 7-9 years |
Consultant total time in training: minimum 8 years |
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| Optional | Training may be extended by pursuing medical research (usually two-three years), usually with clinical duties as well |
Training is competency based, times shown are a minimum. Training may be extended by obtaining an Academic Clinical Fellowship for research or by dual certification in another speciality. |
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