Membership of the Royal College of General Practitioners by assessment: attitudes of members and non-members in one faculty area.

BACKGROUND

Fewer than half of the principals in general practice in the United Kingdom are members of the Royal College of General Practitioners. As the membership examination is closely linked to the endpoint of vocational training, a case can be made for another method of entry to the RCGP for established principals. Such a method could be membership by assessment.

AIM

A study was undertaken to examine the attitudes of existing members and fellows of the RCGP to membership by assessment and to determine whether there was any demand from general practitioner principals who were not RCGP members to join by this route.

METHOD

One questionnaire was sent to all RCGP members and fellows in the Vale of Trent faculty area and another questionnaire was sent to those principals in general practice in the Vale of Trent faculty area who were not RCGP members.

RESULTS

In total, 396 (83%) of the 480 RCGP members and fellows responded, as did 543 (81%) of the 671 non-members in the faculty area. When asked if they were in favour of the concept of membership by assessment, 245 of the members and fellows replied yes (62%) and 138 replied no (35%). Of the non-members, 91 (17%) ahd previously been members of the RCGP; the main reason given by these general practitioners for relinquishing membership was that the annual subscription was too high (65% of 91 general practitioners). When the 451 general practitioners who had never been members were asked if they would be interested in joining the RCGP by an assessment method, 271 replied positively (60%).

CONCLUSION

There was widespread support from the members and fellows of the Vale of Trent faculty of the RCGP for the concept of membership by assessment. Principals in general practice in this area who had never been members of the RCGP showed a high degree of interest in joining by this method. Despite the caveats that must be applied, for example, to ensure that the standards are set appropriately, these results indicate that membership by assessment should be explored by the RCGP, and indeed a working party on the meaning of membership of the RCGP has been convened.