GP curriculum update

You can download the updated versions of "Being a GP" and the "Topic Guides" here:

• Being a GP (PDF file, 1.2 MB)
• Topic guides (PDF file, 6.4 MB)

The curriculum was last extensively updated in 2019, and there have been significant developments in healthcare and General Practice since then. This update was undertaken with the central aim of ensuring the curriculum reflects these changes, while minimising the impact on GP registrars and GP Educators.

With that in mind, there are no changes to the structure and format of assessments and exams (WPBA, AKT and SCA).

The updated curriculum addresses and covers several areas in greater detail than before, including:

• the impact of COVID-19 on clinical practice and modes of consultation
• climate change and other environmental factors, recognising their impact on health in sections like Allergy and Clinical Immunology, as well as in the Population and Planetary Health Topic Guide.
• personalised care perspectives and social determinants of health
• recognising the value of different types of knowledge and learning

For conciseness, redundant or duplicated sections within Topic Guides have been streamlined or removed. New and updated Supercondensed Curriculum Guides are being developed and will be available when the curriculum goes live in August.

Across the curriculum, there are revised learning outcomes, case studies, and reflective questions to support a deeper understanding of each area, along with revised “Common and Important Conditions” sections that are now more concise.

Changes to the curriculum capabilities

There have been some minor wording changes to the 13 specific capabilities, and the area of capability "Caring for the whole person and the wider community" is now "Caring for the whole person, wider community, and the environment".

Learning outcomes from August 2025

The following lists show the learning outcomes from August 2025, under each area of capability.

Knowing yourself and relating to others

• Fitness to practise
  • Demonstrating the attitudes and behaviours expected of a good doctor
  • Managing the factors that influence your performance
  • Promoting health and wellbeing in yourself and colleagues
• An ethical approach
  • Treating others fairly and with respect and acting without discrimination or prejudice
  • Providing care with compassion and kindness
  • Promoting an environment of inclusivity, safety, cultural humility, and freedom to speak up
• Communicating and consulting
  • Establishing effective partnerships through a range of in-person and remote consulting modalities
  • Managing the additional challenge of consultations with patients who have particular communication needs, or who have different languages, cultures, beliefs, and educational backgrounds, to your own
  • Maintaining continuing relationships with patients, carers, and families

Applying clinical knowledge and skill

• Data gathering and interpretation
  • Applying an organised approach to data gathering and investigation
  • Interpreting findings accurately and appropriately
• Clinical examination and procedural skills
  • Demonstrating a proficient approach to clinical examination and procedural skills
• Decision-making and diagnosis
  • Adopting appropriate decision-making principles based on shared understanding
  • Using best available, current, valid, and relevant evidence
• Clinical management
  • Providing collaborative clinical care to patients which supports their autonomy
  • Using a reasoned approach to clinical management that includes supported self-care
  • Making appropriate use of other professionals and services
  • Providing urgent care when needed

Managing complex and long-term care

• Medical complexity
  • Enabling people living with long-term conditions to optimise their health
  • Using a personalised approach to manage and monitor concurrent health problems for individual patients
  • Managing risk and uncertainty whilst adopting safe and effective approaches for patients with complex needs
  • Coordinating and overseeing patient care across healthcare systems
• Team-working
  • Working as an effective member of multi-professional and diverse teams
  • Leading and coordinating a team-based approach to patient care

Working well in organisations and systems of care

• Performance, learning and teaching
  • Continuously evaluating and improving the care you provide
  • Adopting a safe and evidence-informed approach to improve quality of care
  • Supporting the education and professional development of colleagues
• Organisation, management, and leadership
  • Advocating for medical generalism in healthcare
  • Applying leadership skills to improve your organisation’s performance
  • Making effective use of data, technology, and communication systems to provide better patient care
  • Developing the financial and business skills required for your role

Caring for the whole person, the wider community, and the environment

• Holistic practice, health promotion, and safeguarding
  • Demonstrating the holistic mindset of a generalist medical practitioner
  • Supporting people through their experiences of health, illness, and recovery with a personalised approach
  • Safeguarding individuals, families, and local populations
• Community health and environmental sustainability
  • Understanding the health service and your role within it
  • Building relationships with the communities in which you work
  • Promoting population and planetary health

Progression point descriptors

In addition to the revisions in the titles of some capabilities, the progression point descriptors have also been updated to ensure they are current and relevant to the changes in general practice. These updates will not affect previously supplied evidence or any of the assessments but should help support evidencing attainment of the capabilities as appropriate for each training year.

All information already linked to the capabilities remains valid, but some capabilities now have additional descriptors to cover the revisions. For example, community orientation now includes community health as well as environmental sustainability.

Previously, the progression point descriptors separated out ST1 and ST2 end-of-year expectations as well as ST3. We asked GP registrars and Educators last year if they thought it would be better to merge these descriptors to have one set for ST1/2 as the construction of programmes and varied registrar experience supports a combined descriptor. There was a lot of support for this update, so we've actioned it - you can see the new progression point descriptors at the end of each capability in "Being a GP".

Changes to topic guides

Several topic guide titles have been updated and the guides for Reproductive Health and Maternity as well as Urgent and Unscheduled Care have been repositioned as clinical topic guides, with content edited to be clearer and more concise. The Population and Planetary Health topic guide is now a professional Topic Guide. The full list of topic guides is provided below:

Enhancing inclusivity, accessibility and representation

An extensive "Decolonising the Curriculum" exercise was undertaken, aimed at enhancing inclusivity, accessibility and representation across the curriculum. Disability considerations were expanded significantly, with more attention to accessibility challenges (like internet access and language barriers) and accommodations for hearing impairments. Compliance with accessibility standards, including Braille and large print, was strengthened, along with the accessibility of physical spaces like surgery premises. New resources, such as Topic Guides for Neurodiversity and Neurodevelopmental Conditions, and Learning Disability, have been developed to address specific needs, and accessible communication strategies for people with visual, hearing, or learning disabilities were prioritised.