Certification dates prior to June 2016

Below is a description of the JCST’s certification process for trainees with certification dates before 1 June 2016.

The JCST initiates the certification process about five months before the end of your training. We check your file and ISCP account to ensure:

  • You are registered with the GMC
  • You are registered with the General Dental Council (GDC) - Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery (OMFS) trainees only - please refer to this specialty's Certification guidelines for further details
  • You are enrolled with the Specialty Advisory Committee (SAC) in the relevant specialty
  • You have satisfactory ARCPs that cover the entirety of your training until at least your penultimate year – there should be an ARCP outcome for each year of training with no gaps between assessments
  • You have passed both sections of the FRCS examination in the relevant specialty or have the opportunity to do so before your expected certification date
  • There are no Out of Programme (OOP) periods that have not been accounted for as this may affect or delay the certification process
  • You have paid the trainee fee for the entirety of your training, up to your expected certification date (Trauma & Orthopaedic StRs only need to pay the fee from August 2010 onwards)

If the details above are in order and there is no outstanding document or OOP, the JCST office will issue the certification pack and send it to you. A separate letter will also be sent to your Training Programme Director (TPD) requesting completion of a Final Report form.

Once the application pack has been sent, we will inform the GMC that you are ready to start applying for your certificate. The GMC will contact you directly with further details relating to its own certification process.

If there is information/documentation missing or periods in training not accounted for, the JCST office will not issue the certification pack. At this point we will contact you, your Deanery/LETB or your TPD and either request missing documents or further clarification on any relevant issues. Once everything has been clarified or we have the missing documents, we will issue your certification pack and the process starts again.

Your specialty’s Certification Guidelines can be found here

Trainees are responsible for ensuring that the JCST holds all the relevant certification documentation to be able to process the application. This will include:

  • Completed and signed ARCP 6 – ideally this should not be signed more than four months before your expected certification date
  • Validated consolidation sheets of your logbook – most specialties ask for this in the eLogbook configuration and it should cover your NTN training period only  it also needs to be validated/signed by your TPD. (NB. If you are a Trauma & Orthopaedic trainee you will not be required to submit a logbook. The SAC will access it online)
  • Up-to-date CV – some specialties will have specific layout requirements but please ensure it shows all of your training posts including dates (mm/yyyy to mm/yyyy) for each
  • Final Report from TPD
  • College Notification Form (CNF) signed by the Postgraduate Dean / Associate Dean / Head of School
  • Up-to-date APLS certificate (if you are a Paediatric Surgery or Otolaryngology trainee)
  • Up-to-date ATLS certificate (StRs only and only certain Specialties)
  • Certification (CCT / CESR (CP)) Checklist (if you are a General Surgery StR)
  • Certification document review (Paediatric Surgery only)

Please note that we require trainees to pay the trainee fee up until their expected certification date

If all of the above is in order, the application will be sent to the SAC for its final assessment and sign off – this should not take longer than six weeks. If the SAC is happy that you achieved all the requirements of the CCT/CESR (CP) training programme, we will recommend you for certification.

Please be aware that if you apply for your certificate more than six months after your completion date, the GMC may ask you to supply extra evidence of your professional activities since your completion date before awarding you your certificate.

The GMC has stipulated that all applications for certification must be made within 12 months of expected certification dates. If you do not submit your application for your CCT or CESR (CP) via GMC Online within this timeframe, you may need to apply via the full Certificate of Eligibility for Specialist Registration (CESR) route - please note that full CESR applications are assessed against the most up-to-date version of your specialty's curriculum.