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The General Medical Council today confirmed that development of the Medical Licensing Assessment will go ahead, with the intention of implementation in 2022.

The Medical Schools Council looks forward to working with the General Medical Council in ensuring that this is a fair assessment which is well integrated with students’ assessment cycles. The expertise of the Assessment Alliance will be a key part of the development process.

The Chair of the Medical Schools Council, Professor Jenny Higham, said the following:

‘We share the GMC’s goal of designing high-quality assessments that are fair to students and provide assurance to the public about the standard of doctors entering the medical register in the UK.

‘It is good to see the GMC has recognised our work in the development of common examination content in written assessment. However, delivering the original model proposed by the GMC for the CPSA presented many challenges. This is why I’m pleased the GMC has listened carefully to the views expressed by medical schools and agreed an initial approach that will be more proportionate in scope.

‘The hard work now begins to deliver the assessment by 2022. We look forward to continuing to work with the GMC next year as we develop the technical details of how the assessment will work in practice.’