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This page has been updated with latest available information on 22^nd August 2024.

Completing your application for a training post can be a challenging task. You want to ensure that you stand out from the crowd by presenting the full breadth and depth of the experience that you’ve gained to date. At the simplest level, this means scoring as many points on the self-assessment as you possibly can. However, it’s essential that you are honest when claiming your points and follow the guidance correctly.

Which course and how many points?

Every year, large numbers of doctors contact us on this topic. Many are confused about the allocation of points available on self-assessment application scoring for the various “Teach the Teacher” course formats that we offer. Some have become quite anxious about making the right choice.

We can assure you that all of our courses are CPD accredited and are accepted as evidence of training for thousands of doctors every year. However, it’s important to be aware that there are different scoring criteria in play for surgical and medical training programmes. The criteria has also changed over the years.

If you’ve already taken a course, then you will want to ensure you claim the correct number of points. Alternatively, if you are still considering which course to take then you want to ensure your make the best choice to achieve the highest score.

Here’s a table to summarise the latest publicised scoring for the most popular Medical Teaching Course options.

Oxford Medical Course	CPD points	IMT/ ACCS Application Points	CST Application Points
Teach the Teacher Course for Doctors (2 days, tutor led in Virtual Classroom or In-Person)	12	1	3
Teach the Teacher Online Course	3	0	1

For clarity, the following sections outline the differences between IMT/ACCS and CST programmes to help you with this matter.

2025 IMT and ACCS Recruitment – Application Scoring – Training in Teaching

The self-assessment scoring for these programmes is quite different this year than for previous years. A document called “Changes to the application scoring matrix from 2025…” was posted on the Physician Higher Specialty Training Recruitment Document Library December 2023. Here is a copy of the summary table in the “Training in Teaching” section of this document.

For IMT/ ACCS: Option	Score available	Notes
I have a higher qualification in teaching e.g. PG Cert or PG Diploma.	3	This could be full time over one academic year or part-time over multiple years.
I have had training in teaching methods which is below the level of a PG Cert or PG Diploma	1	This should be additional to any training received as part of your primary medical qualification. Training should be delivered with a duration of at least six hours (i.e. a one-day course) of synchronous (live) teaching time.
I have had no training in teaching methods.	0

The “Summary of changes” table at the start of this document includes the following paragraph:

“The guidance on the one-point option has been amended to specify that the training must have included a minimum of six hours (one day) of synchronously delivered teaching; (i.e. being taught live by a teacher) “

For IMT or ACCS at CT1 level, you score 1 point for our tutor-led 2-day Teach the Teacher Course for Doctors , whether you take the course in our Virtual Classroom, or in-person. Both fulfil the criteria of “synchronously delivered teaching” and being “taught by a live teacher”.

Our instant-access Teach the Teacher Online Course is designed for you to work through alone and at your own pace and does not involve a live tutor, so cannot be used this year for IMT or ACCS self-assessment scoring.

These changes also apply to 25 physician higher specialities at ST3/ST4 level.

2024 CST Self-Assessment Scoring – Training Qualifications

This is where most of the confusion arose last year. In part, this was due to a change in the criteria being announced very late, just before the window for applications opened, and as some definitions were unclear. We contacted HEE to raise this issue and received a response from the Recruitment Officer, London and KSS NHS England who acknowledged this, leading to additional clarification notes being posted on the information webpages.

So, here’s the latest information as it appears on the Training Experience section of the 2024 Core Surgical Training Self-Assessment Scoring Guidance for Candidates webpage for NHS England, Scotland and Wales at time of writing this blog post.

For CST: Options	Score	Notes
I have a Teaching specific postgraduate qualification, for example, at least a PG Cert (ICSED level 4 and above).	5	Not applicable
I have had substantial training (defined in additional notes) in teaching methods lasting at least 2 days. This could include a completed module which forms part of a postgraduate teaching qualification or masters level programme.	3	This does not include online only courses. Courses must have a face-to-face component.
I have had training in teaching methods	1	This should be additional to any training received as part of your primary medical qualification. This can be delivered virtually.

It’s essential to read this table in conjunction with the “Additional notes” section for clarification in terms of what is considered “substantial training” for CST programmes. The “Additional notes” state:

“Substantial training is defined as formal training either face to face or virtual that should be of at least 2 full days in duration.”

For CST programme applications, you can claim 3 points for our 2-day tutor-led Teach the Teacher Course for Doctors, whether that is taken in our Virtual Classroom or In-person, or 1 point for our Teach the Teacher Online Course where you gain access to materials which you work through on your own or at your own pace.

Please note: The bottom of the “2024 Core Surgical Training Self-Assessment Scoring Guidance for Candidates” webpage states “Next review due 26 October 2024”

Other things to consider

Completing the application is only the first hurdle in achieving your training post. If you are successful in getting through to interview then you have the challenge of presenting yourself at your best during the intensive interview process. So, you need to gain as much experience in numerous areas between now and then. You will need to demonstrate your patient communication, team communication and leadership skills. Taking courses in these subjects will give you fresh input and help you to clarify your thinking. And it’s always worth considering a dedicated interview preparation course to help you pull everything together.

All the best with your application and continue to develop your abilities to maximise your potential.

Stephen McGuire – Managing Director

Please note: offers have now ended

We’re delighted to be celebrating Oxford Medical’s 20th anniversary this weekend!

We were established on 10th August 2004, and now provide professional skills training to thousands of doctors each year, both in the UK and across the globe.

To mark the occasion, we’ve got some short-term special offers for you, meaning you can make big savings as you give your professional skills a major boost.

Offers go live on Friday 9th August and end 23:59 BST on Sunday 11th August 2024. Make sure you don’t miss out!

Develop your abilities – Maximise your potential.

*Sale prices cannot be combined with any other offer or coupon code.

We’re delighted to announce that Oxford Medical have been awarded the Customer Service Excellence hallmark from the UK Government Cabinet Office.

You may, or may not, be familiar with Customer Service Excellence Standard accreditation. When it first came to our attention, we were initially attracted by the authenticity and credibility provided by genuine independent assessment. Then, on further investigation, we realised that the framework and assessment process could also provide us with a structured approach to consider our ways of working. Taking an honest look at ourselves, combined with input from our assessor has acted as a catalyst for new ideas, informing our strategy and actions for improvement. So, it’s more than just a badge.

Audit process

We chose an approach that was pretty much in line with the classic clinical audit cycle which can be applied to any quality improvement initiative.

• The first step for audit is to identify a recognisable standard. Rather than just floating along in your own bubble, you need to seek out a relevant standard or framework. A standard can take many forms. It could, for example, be a recommendation from NICE, guidance from a Royal College or a goal defined within your own organisation. In our case, we used the set of 57 defined elements which constitute the Customer Service Excellence Standard.
• The next step is to measure your performance by collecting relevant “evidence”. Measurements can be figures – it’s often easier when they are – but there may be other valid forms of evidence. It could a policy document, the record of a specific event, patient feedback or description of common team behaviour. In short, it can be anything that helps you to accurately describe the current reality.
• After this comes analysis of the evidence in comparison to the standard. Are you meeting, exceeding or falling short of the standard? Why? And what are the implications?
• Once you’ve answered those questions, it’s time to initiate change.

It’s tempting to stop there. But the difference between a process and a cycle is that the latter is ongoing. So, once you’ve initiated change, you need to make sure it’s embedded and actually making things better. Taking steps to improve one thing can often have unexpected impacts. There can be surprising knock on benefits, which are always good to recognise. However, “improvement” in one place can easily create a new problem elsewhere. So, it often makes sense to pay attention to a suite of standards, monitoring performance in a variety of ways, capitalising on benefits and addressing new shortfalls.

Independent, external assessment

Even when we follow good audit practices, human nature, familiarity or even lack of awareness of possibilities can mean we often have blind spots to what is really going on around us. This is where external assessment can have a major impact. Being open to the scrutiny of a suitably experienced independent auditor and listening to their feedback can be very revealing. Care Quality Commission inspections, appraisal and ARCP meetings all fall into this category.

There’s no doubt that the auditor’s attitude can have a major impact. In a ideal world, they should provide supportive, constructive critique, rather than taking the “Gotcha!” approach. But the attitude of the team is another factor in determining if there are true benefits from an external assessment. Being overly defensive, or resistant to either hearing facts or comparison to others are major obstacles to accepting reality – an essential step in achieving improvement.

Thankfully, working with Assessment Services was a very positive experience. By engaging with our assessor and listening carefully to his observations, we’ve identified a number of initiatives for making progress. In addition, we’ve also heightened our awareness of our abilities and the things we do well. This is a vital part of any audit process, as the solutions to our challenges often lie within our strengths.

So, now we have to get on with putting our ideas into action, pay attention to the results and make sure we get ourselves ready for another successful assessment process next year.

Stephen McGuire – Managing Director

As Junior Doctor Panel member, Mel, comes toward the end of her Clinical Education Fellow FY3 role, she reflects on her experiences and shares how she is preparing for her new post as a GP Academic Clinical Fellow.

Our Junior Doctor Panel is a small group of medical students and junior doctors working in different roles who share their experiences with us. In return, we support them with their development. Click here to find out more about the Junior Doctor Panel.

The course which Mel refers to in her video is our Essentials of Medical Leadership & Management Course.

We’ve received a number of queries about the impact of junior doctor strike action on our services. We can confirm that our courses are unaffected by the industrial action and that all tutor-led courses will run as normal. In addition, our instant access online courses are designed to put you in full control, meaning you can progress your development as and when you like.

As he approaches the end of his FY1 year, Andrew, from our Junior Doctor Panel, shares his experiences of rotation changes along with the steps he has taken to help overcome the challenges.

Our Junior Doctor Panel is a small group of medical students and junior doctors working in different roles who share their experiences with us. In return, we support them with their development. Click here to find out more about the Junior Doctor Panel.

The course Andrew refers to in this interview is our Advanced Team Communication Skills Course for Doctors.

Here’s a short video interview with Bhavik, GPST and member of our Junior Doctor Panel where he shares recent experiences, including his involvement in medical leadership at the practice he’s working at.

Our Junior Doctor Panel is a small group of medical students and junior doctors working in different roles who share their experiences with us. In return, we support them with their development. Click here to find out more about the Junior Doctor Panel.

The course which Bhavik refers to in his video is our Essentials of Medical Leadership & Management course.

Style

We are constantly bombarded by images of the rich and famous exuding style. As I’m writing this, your social media feeds and news websites are awash with the photographs of the great and the good attending the annual Met Gala fundraising fashion event in Manhattan. Many commentators will hail this as the epitome of style. “Fabulous!” “Extraordinary!” “Daring!” But there are also detractors. “Ridiculous!” “Decadent!” “The Emperor’s new clothes!”

Why does style matter? Why does it provoke such reactions? And, more to the point, what’s this got to do with medical leadership?

We’ll come back to these questions shortly, after a short diversion into the world of politics.

Charisma

A few days before the magical/preposterous Met Gala, (delete as appropriate), our weekend news was filled with politicians conducting the post-mortem/celebrating the latest round of election results, (delete as appropriate). One thing that they generally had in common was a desire to demonstrate that they had the upper hand. They want to show that they, rather than their opponents were the answer to the current challenges. A highlight/low-point, (delete as appropriate) came when one high profile interviewee dismissed a candidate for high office as being unsuitable for the role because they have “the charisma of a peanut!”

Why does charisma matter? How do you get it? What is it anyway? And – again – what’s this got to do with medical leadership?

On our various medical leadership courses, we often hear comments like “I want to develop my leadership style,” and, “I wish I had charisma.”

A question of style

When it comes to taking the lead and getting something done, we have choices in how we go about it. This idea of behavioural choice is well established in our language. “Different strokes for different folks.” “Each to their own.” “There are many ways to skin a cat!” But our choices are not always evident to us.

We inevitably learn from the leaders that we have worked with in the past. When it comes to leadership style, they are, in many ways, like the uber-celebrities on the Met Gala red carpet. We recall some unbelievable catastrophes and are pretty certain what behavioural choices we want to avoid. At the same time, we look back fondly on other leaders with admiration and aspire to copy their style. So, quite rightly, we intelligently try to approach leading people in the same way that they did.

However, our awareness is limited by our experience. Going back to common phrases, “All roads lead to Rome,” suggests you’ll get where you want to no matter what choice you make. Is that actually true? The fashionista’s don’t always dress the way that they do on the red carpet. They choose their style to suit the occassion. Sometimes that’s expensive couture. At other times, it’s a t-shirt and jeans. Good leadership requires adapting and using different styles in different situations.

“If all you’ve ever had is a hammer, then everything looks like a nail,” is a useful reminder that there may be ways to get things done that are beyond our experience or awareness. We’re not always aware of the range of “tools” or leadership styles that are available to us.

In clothing, we know that some people wear styles that we can’t imagine ourselves in. At other times we see new things we’d like to try – and we don’t always know what suits us best! So, it helps to step out of the bubble of our personal mindset from time to time and explore the possibilities.

Isn’t this focus on style a bit shallow?

Potentially, yes!

“Style” has many definitions – many of them related to appearance. If your leadership style choices are all about how things look, then – yes – that’s too shallow. And that’s a mistake many people make, particularly when seeking the intangible magic ingredient called “charisma.”

Leadership is about making things happen. When the focus is all about style, how things look and personality it’s unlikely to result in any sustainable change.

Style and substance

If we consider charisma as the “ability to gain and maintain people’s attention,” then that part becomes easier to grasp. We gain and maintain attention when we engage people in an idea that matters to them in a way that matters to them. Having a focus on what matters and what needs to change provides leadership substance. The choice is then: which leadership style to adopt to match the specific situation?

Leadership style and substance is a powerful combination.

What steps are you taking to ensure you keep your leadership fresh?

Stephen McGuire – Managing Director

After listening to the needs and interests of doctors attending our courses, we’re delighted to introduce the latest addition to our range:

Be an Effective Locum Doctor Online Course.

It’s accredited for 4 CPD points and is ideal for any doctor currently working as a locum or who is thinking about taking the plunge.

Develop you abilities. Maximise your potential.

We’ve also curated new Locum Doctor Development Collections of online courses to provide you with a broader and deeper learning experience at a package price.

In this short video, Dionne, who is a 5th year medical school student and a member of Oxford Medical’s Junior Doctor Panel, shares how she has been working to improve her patient communication skills.

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Our Junior Doctor Panel is a small group of medical students and junior doctors working in different roles who share their experiences with us. In return, we support them with their development. Click here to find out more about the Junior Doctor Panel.

The course which Dionne refers to in her video is our Advancing Patient Communication Skills Online Course.

We offer our instant-access, self-guided online courses to Medical Students at 50% off the standard price via our Kickstarter for Undergraduates offer.