ABSTRACT

The shortlisting committee includes the VTS staff and trainee representatives. The trainee chairman selects one or two representatives from each of the first-, second- and third-year groups and they have their own discussion to shortlist applicants. The half-day release course focuses around group work and it therefore seemed logical to place the interview in a similar setting to avoid the intimidation of a large committee. The number of places on rotations each year is governed by the number of hospital posts available to the programme. There are, however, more trainers in the Exeter programme than is required to meet the needs of the rotations so that one-year general practice training posts are available. The interview day starts mid-morning when the senior lecturer in charge of vocational training briefly explains the format of the day. The candidates then go for an hour in pairs with a trainee from the programme to visit a training practice.