Competent Future Doctors: ELAG-approved survey

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“Competent Future Doctors - the UK 2026 anonymous survey of newly qualified doctors’ clinical experience

In 2019, the GMC outlined for the first time, in Practical Skills and Procedures, the core set of practical skills and procedures, and minimum level of performance that newly qualified doctors from all medical schools must have when they start work for the first time so they can practise safely.

The Competent Future Doctors UK 2026 survey is the first attempt to systematically appraise the extent to which medical students in every medical school in the UK are meeting the GMC’s expectations.

The survey builds on two historic previous studies, published in The Lancet, investigating the clinical experience acquired by medical students graduating from several medical schools in 1986, 1991 and 1996.1 2 We have also administered the same survey to students graduating from St George’s Medical School in 2011 & 2020.

The Competent Future Doctors UK 2026 survey combines determining adherence with the GMC’s Practical Skills and Procedures, along with assessing the same clinical experience metrics used in the two historic surveys for comparison purposes. We also wish to establish whether clinical experience is being achieved equitably across ethnic and social groups.

The success of the Competent Future Doctors UK 2026 survey rests on it including all current UK Medical Schools. As a medical student graduating in 2026, we invite you to take part in the study. The survey can be completed anonymously via an online questionnaire platform, Jisc Online Surveys, which is widely used by academic institutions in the UK.

Please click on the following link:

https://app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/stgeorges/clinical-experience

Thank you for your help with this important research.

Yours sincerely,
Dr Michael Perkin MB BS MSc MRCP FRCPCH FHEA PhD
Chief Investigator of the Competent Future Doctors UK 2026 survey