Advances in Psychiatric Treatment (2009) 15: 114-122. doi: 10.1192/apt.bp.107.005207
© 2009 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
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The postgraduate curriculum and assessment programme in psychiatry: the underlying principles

Gareth Holsgrove, Amit Malik and Dinesh Bhugra

Gareth Holsgrove is a professional medical educationalist, specialising in curriculum and assessment, as well as in training medical teachers and examiners. He was Medical Education Advisor to the Royal College of Psychiatrists and has been involved in developing the new College curriculum and assessment programme. Other previous roles include: Head of Postgraduate Educational Services at the Royal College of Psychiatrists; Head of the Academic Unit of Medical and Dental Education at St Bartholomew’s and The Royal London hospitals; Director of Medical Education at the national medical school of the United Arab Emirates; Medical Education Consultant to several UK medical Royal Colleges and to the Aga Khan Foundation, the College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan and the World Health Organization; and Chair of the Postgraduate Medical Education and Training Board (PMETB) Assessment Approval Panel. Amit Malik is Consultant Psychiatrist at Hampshire Partnership NHS Trust. He is the lead for online implementation of workplace-based assessments (WPBAs) in psychiatry within the Royal College of Psychiatrists. He is the immediate past Chair of the Psychiatric Trainees’ Committee at the Royal College of Psychiatrists and is President-Elect of the European Federation of Psychiatric Trainees. He is also a member of the Assessment Committee of PMETB. His research interests include service provision in liaison psychiatry and WPBAs in psychiatry. Dinesh Bhugra is Professor of Mental Health and Cultural Diversity at the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, and Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist at the South London and Maudsley Foundation NHS Trust. He is current President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. His research interests include cultural psychiatry, psychosexual dysfunction and deviation.

Correspondence: Correspondence Dr Gareth Holsgrove, Gareth Holsgrove Ltd, 95 St Neots Road, Eaton Ford, St Neots, Cambridgeshire PE19 7AL, UK. Email: GarethHolsgrove{at}btconnect.com

Assessment is key to the educational process and plays a significant role in looking at the progress trainees make as a result of training and personal development. Recent developments in curricula have led to substantial changes in assessing progress and attainment throughout postgraduate medical education in the UK. This article outlines the framework used to develop the postgraduate curriculum in psychiatry and describes the nature and purpose of the assessment programme that forms part of this new curriculum. The article considers the principles of medical education that are essential for the success of assessments, not only centrally in the development of the assessment system, but also locally in the delivery of these assessments. The overall context of developments in medical education, as well as the relationship between workplace-based assessments (WPBAs) and formal examinations, are described with specific references to developments in psychiatric training, its curriculum and assessments.