TY - JOUR T1 - Summative assessment: a historical perspective JF - British Journal of General Practice JO - Br J Gen Pract SP - 894 LP - 895 DO - 10.3399/bjgp08X376357 VL - 58 IS - 557 AU - Stuart Murray Y1 - 2008/12/01 UR - http://bjgp.org/content/58/557/894.abstract N2 - In 1990 the Joint Chairs of the Joint Committee on Postgraduate Training for General Practice (JCPTGP), The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP), and the General Medical Services Committee (GMSC) decided that a Statement of Satisfactory Completion of Training should reflect the actual performance of the GP registrar and that a Certificate of Satisfactory Completion of Training would be a national standard of entry into general practice.1 In 1990 it was unusual for a registrar not to receive a Satisfactory Completion Certificate as this could only be triggered by the informed signature of the trainer. Between 1989 and 1992 the proportion not receiving certificates was 0.26%.The West of Scotland Deanery had an interest and some expertise in assessment. A model for summative assessment was developed which was based on professional judgement. The detail is included in two MD theses.2,3 The model developed was regulatory, it would assess the competence of doctors for independent practice and protect the public from doctors whose performance is inadequate. This process would have an effect on education as the end stage would drive the learning during the year. A small pilot was carried out in the West of Scotland Deanery commencing in August 1992 and the full pilot carried out for those commencing their GP registrar year in August 1993.The aim was to have a valid, reliable, and fair system. This had four components: multiple choice (MCQ); assessment of video tape consultations; an audit project; and the trainer's overall judgement. There was significant opposition from trainers, associate advisers and local medical committees. In the full pilot the regional adviser agreed with the trainers that they would be able to stop the new assessment process for any registrar whose performance was identified … ER -