Core Surgery Application Self-Assessment Questions

Any evidence provided in this section must not be used to claim points in any other
domain.

Additional notes
A surgical taster must have covered at least 5 days in total though does not need to be undertaken in
consecutive days. A 5-day surgical taster booked for 2023 will receive 0 points.

All surgical experience should be evidenced by recording in the UK Pan-Surgical Logbook (eLogbook).
Recognised surgical placements include Plastic Surgery, Neurosurgery, Vascular Surgery, ENT Surgery,
Cardiac/Thoracic surgery, ITU, Urology, Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, General Surgery, Orthopaedic
Surgery, Paediatric Surgery. Intended surgical placements will also be acceptable if those placements
were affected due to COVID redeployment

Evidence required for confirmation of surgical experience
1. Consolidation report for each specialty to include
• The summary sheet of the consolidation report (detailing the number of procedures
undertaken and the date range the operations undertaken) needs to be
o signed by a consultant including their
▪ Full name,
▪ GMC number (or corresponding national medical registration equivalent)
▪ The date the consultant validated the summary sheet.

Please do not provide a copy of your entire logbook. Your personal involvement can include assisting or
supervised trainer scrubbed procedures though not observed and must not include procedures that all UK
trainees are expected to have signed off as part of their foundation competencies.
Only 1 consolidation report upload permitted for each specialty. Any further will not be considered for
scoring.

Evidence required for confirmation of surgical conferences
1. Copy of conference attendance certificate detailing
1. Name of applicant
2. Name of conference
3. Organising body
4. Date of conference
5. Where appropriate detailing CPD points

Evidence required for confirmation of Surgical elective
1. A signed letter/document on official letterhead by your educational supervisor including
a. The surgical placement and hospital
b. the dates undertaken,
c. name of supervisor and their GMC no (or corresponding national medical
registration equivalent)

Evidence required for confirmation of Surgical placement
1. A signed letter/document on official letterhead by your educational supervisor including
a. The surgical placement and hospital
b. the dates undertaken,
c. name of supervisor and their GMC no (or corresponding national medical
registration equivalent)

Evidence required for confirmation of Surgical taster
1. A signed letter/document on official letterhead by your educational supervisor including
a. The surgical department and hospital
b. the dates undertaken
c. name of supervisor and their GMC no (or corresponding national medical
registration equivalent)

Only one document to be uploaded for
• surgical conference (certificate of attendance for each conference in a single
document)
• surgical elective/placement or taster
Any further documents uploaded will not be considered by assessors.

For applicants to score 4 or more points they must have personally been involved in at least 2 cycles of the
audit or quality improvement project. If your project has only completed a single cycle or you have only
been involved in one of the cycles, then a maximum of 2 points can be awarded. If your project has not yet
completed a single cycle no points can be awarded.

Please choose a scoring option based on a single quality improvement QI project/audit. If you have been
involved in more than one, you will need to pick the QI project/audit corresponding to the highest-scoring
statement which is applicable.

The same Quality Improvement/Clinical Audit may be also put forward in the publications domain if it may
score in that domain should the applicant wish.

Evidence Required
1.Copy of audit project presentation outlining scope and impact (findings and improvements
achieved) of project

OR summary of the project detailing scope and impact of the project.

A copy of the audit presentation must be provided to allow for presentation point scoring.

AND

2. A letter from supervising consultant or QI/audit project stating level of involvement to satisfy the
requirements described in the table above. The letter must be signed (can be digital signature to
reproduce a physical signature) and include
a. Consultant name and GMC number (or corresponding national medical registration
equivalent)
b. Date

AND (for presentation points only)

3. A letter of acceptance from the meeting where presented confirming
a. project title
b. presenting author
c. date
A copy of the meeting

Oral presentations referred to are with or without slides, in front of an audience of healthcare professionals.
These can be of anything related to medicine, typically a case or case series, research or other topic. It
would normally be expected to include a question-and-answer session.

Poster presentations referred to are given with one poster or poster slide and sometimes a very short oral
explanation with or without a question-and-answer session. If a poster is shown without an accompanying
oral presentation, you can still claim points in line with the relevant statement.

All presentations require personal or virtual attendance – acceptance of a poster without attending is
detailed above.

In situations where you are solely presenting or showing your poster because you have paid a fee you may
only select the “none/other” option.
A medical meeting will typically be to an audience of doctors and/or other healthcare professionals
attending away from their normal place of work for which attendees will be undertaking continuing
professional development. The exception to this is the option for a local meeting where the audience is
predominantly internal to that workplace. Please the appendix for definitions of local, regional, national and
international meetings.

For any publication in print to be considered for points allocation they MUST be PubMed (PUBMED
ID must be provided) cited to demonstrate that it is peer reviewed and relevant to medicine. Any
candidate submitting without a PubMed searchable ID will score 0 points. Any candidate claiming a
PubMed ID for an article which does not have this will potentially raise a probity concern with the
interview panel.

Publications are accepted for points allocation if they have been accepted by a PUBMED catalogued
journal (in press) provided acceptance for publication without amendments is provided and evidence of the
PubMed status of the journal is also provided.

Cited collaborative authors must have publication in print, NOT in press.

Chapters written in medical books will not require pub med citing but rather the ISBN for the book is
required as detailed below.

You must not in any circumstances claim an oral or poster presentation in this section if you have used the
same quality improvement project/audit to claim points in the QI/audit section (Presentation points). Any
points claimed for oral or poster presentations in this section must be completely different projects to any QI
or audit work used to claim points in any other section.

Evidence Required

For all oral and poster presentations
1. Copy of oral presentation slides/poster presentation to include
a. Title of presentation
b. Name of first author/presenter or author list to include applicant if not first author
In situations where you are solely presenting or showing your poster because you have paid a fee you may only select the “none/other” option.

You cannot, in any circumstances, claim an oral or poster presentation in this section if you have used the same quality improvement project/audit to claim points in the QI/audit section. Any points claimed for oral or poster presentations in this section must be completely different projects to any QI or audit work used to claim points in any other section.
For example, if you have carried out an audit on catheter use and used it to claim points in the presentations section then you cannot use a quality improvement poster presentation regarding catheter use to claim points in the QI/audit (or any other) section.

AND

2. Copy of letter of acceptance of oral/poster presentation or copy of event programme citing
presentation to include
a. Name of presenter OR first author
b. Institution convening meeting
c. Date of meeting/presentation

AND

3. Certificate of attendance at event
If claiming for a prize, the following is also required

1. Copy of prize certificate or signed letter from the institution conferring the prize

For regional or local meetings, a letter from an educational supervisor with the above information is
acceptable

For all published articles or cases/letters as first author or co-author
1. A copy of the article (in pdf format or scanned) including PubMed ID

AND

2. Letter of acceptance for publication from accepting PubMed catalogued journal to include
a. Name of applicant as First author or co-author (clearly stating co-authorship)
b. Confirmation of acceptance for publication without alteration
c. Name of accepting journal
d. Date of acceptance
e. Title of article

For Articles in Press
1. Letter of acceptance for publication from accepting PubMed catalogued journal to include
f. Name of applicant as First author or co-author (clearly stating co-authorship)
g. Confirmation of acceptance for publication without alteration
h. Name of accepting journal
i. Date of acceptance
j. Title of article
k. Statement confirming that the journal is PubMed cited

For Book Chapter
1. Front and back cover of book to include
a. Title of book
b. Publishing house
c. ISBN number

AND

2. Contents page showing chapter and applicant as author

For Cited Collaborative author

1. Copy of published article to include
a. Title of article
b. Name of Journal
c. PubMED ID
d. Article page where collaborative authors are cited

N.B Evidence of formal feedback is required for all teaching experience

Formal feedback describes either
1. Evidence of senior observation/feedback (e.g. observation of teaching assessment, developing the
clinical teacher form, etc.)

OR

2. Collection and analysis of participants' feedback forms. Feedback forms include scores and number
of people involved in providing the feedback.
Formal feedback does not need to be submitted as evidence but must be reviewed by Consultant.

Evidence Required
1. Letter from Consultant confirming involvement in designing and organizing teaching
programme. The letter must be signed (can be electronic signature) and include
a. Consultant name and GMC number (or corresponding national medical registration
equivalent)
b. Dates of activity

AND/OR

2. Letter from Consultant confirming involvement in delivering teaching and that participant
formal feedback has been reviewed as acceptable. The letter must be signed (can be electronic
signature) and include
a. Consultant name and GMC number (or corresponding national medical registration
equivalent)
b. Dates of activity
For additional guidance local would be deemed as delivery of teaching within a single department
or single hospital site.

Regional would be deemed delivery of teaching across two or more hospital sites/ Trusts or a
foundation school or regional association.

All postgraduate degrees and qualifications will be defined based on the International Standard
Classification of Education (ISCED) (UN International Family of Economic and Social Classifications)
http://uis.unesco.org/sites/default/files/documents/international-standard-classification-of-education-isced-
2011-en.pdf

Substantial training is defined as formal training either face to face or virtual that should be of at least 2 full
days in duration. Formal training is typically delivered in an organized and structured context provided in
educational institutions such as universities and royal colleges.

Evidence Required
1. Copy of Degree/Postgraduate qualification Certificate to include
a. Applicant name
b. Awarding institution
c. Date of award

OR

2. Copy of certificate confirming attendance at substantial training in teaching methods to include
a. Applicant name
b. Awarding institution
c. Date of award

OR

3. Copy of certificate confirming attendance in teaching methods to include
a. Applicant name
b. Awarding institution
c. Date of award