Navigate Curriculum 2024 and the ePortfolio

The process entails applicants submitting a body of evidence to the GMC to demonstrate that they have acquired the required curriculum competences.

Click here for more information about the Portfolio Pathway route.

Evidence may be collected either using the ePortfolio or the Word version of all assessment tools, which may be downloaded from here .

You should go to the web-version of OST Curriculum 2024, which is a complete repository of all syllabi (learning outcomes and descriptors) and assessment tools. It also contains core documentation such as the Curriculum Handbook and the Matrix of Progression for ARCP.

The Matrix of Progression is essential guidance for ARCP panels and describes the key requirements to ensure yearly ST stage progression and advancement between levels where applicable.

The Simple Guide to the Curriculum is designed to help both resident doctors and their educational and named clinical supervisors navigate the curriculum documentation.

All the information you need in summarised in the Level Guides and ARCP sections of the web-based version of the Curriculum Handbook.

Yes. The Transition Progression Requirements note explains how Outcome 1 and completion of the Curriculum Transition Checklists were used to manage the transition to Curriculum 2024. The exercise was necessary to identify any training gaps at the point of transfer. You were not expected afterwards to repeat assessments demonstrating competences.

This was a one-off exercise and is left here for reference.  Only specific documents needed to be uploaded after the transfer in August 2024 (requirements were determined by the curriculum you follow). It was not necessary to upload more evidence for competencies already signed off in the old portfolio system.

It is possible to change the ‘tagging to’ order and switch between Level 1 & 2 and level 3 & 4 domain/ learning outcome coverage.

A dedicated transition checklist was developed to suggest suitable evidence to meet the requirements of Level  3 Community Ophthalmology. The Community Ophthalmology sheet contains a list of suggested pieces of evidence or modules, some of which may be found on the INSPIRE digital platform.

The quality of evidence against each learning outcome should be assessed to determine if it demonstrates that the outcome has been achieved. One piece of evidence of good quality may, at times, suffice for more than one learning outcome.

No, that is all you need to do.

No examination result will show in the ePortfolio until well into 2026 due to further technical glitches encountered by FourteenFish when transferring the data.

You should retain all correspondence from the Examinations team and, in the interim, upload result emails to the Curriculum Catch-up tab in your Learning Logs.

If  the expected CCT date falls on or after 1 August 2026, you will be required to transfer to the new curriculum, regardless of any OOP, academic or LTFT arrangement that were in place in August 2024. This is a GMC-mandated requirement.

Please contact [email protected] for details regarding the compulsory curriculum transfer.

You should use the Helpdesk button to raise a ticket and include a full description of the problem, with screenshots if possible.

FourteenFish aim to respond within 5 working days and each ticket generates a unique reference number. You should escalate to [email protected] if their response is inconclusive or unclear (please include the reference number in your correspondence).

Click the green Portfolio button at the top of the screen to access the Portfolio Overview page, from which you can:

• upload evidence (for example, audits, certificates) to your Learning Logs
• start assessment forms (Educational Assessments)
• check progress (Portfolio Summary and Training Map)
• locate/download historical data (Educator Notes)

Please contact [email protected] if your CCT date is incorrect or missing.

Any leave, including sick leave, that is recorded in the TOOT section will deduct from the WTE total days in training.

Please consult the Help Centre for more details.

A one-off Educator Notes entry was created by FourteenFish for data migration purposes. See also ‘How to find your historical portfolio data’ further above.

This is not its main function and members of your educational team may add an Educator Note at any point.

ESs and NCSs alike must be invited by you to create their own account, which will give them access to evidence you have linked to EPAs and GSATs.

Other assessors do not need an account to sign forms off. Assessment requests to complete WpBAs are sent directly by you, and emails will contain links to forms.

The NCS and ES could be the same person in some some specific, local circumstances. The arrangement should be discussed with your TPD.

Please follow the link for more details about the different roles.

You should only have one ES and one NCS for each Review Period. You should remove all names from the invited list and send new invitations after a a new Review Period has been created.

This refers to Form R, which applies to England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The SOAR form is used in Scotland and is equivalent to Form R.

You will find full details in the Assessment section of the Curriculum Handbook. The Assessment Blueprint and Matrix of Progression summarise the assessments required for each level and year of training.

Your supervisors and assessors should receive emails from the system when you send them assessment forms to complete.  Please remember that:

• you must invite your ES and NCS to view your portfolio, and they have to create an account before they can access your evidence.
• GSATs and EPAs need to have items linked to them for the ES and NCS to review – you will not be able to get these assessments signed off without providing the required evidence. Any learning outcome can be tagged to any entry or assessment for the relevant level. However, no item should be linked/tagged more than three times.

The Curriculum Handbook outlines who signs which assessments:

• You should send EPAs to NCSs.  The NCS should normally only sign off an EPA in their own SIA. However, local solutions might be necessary in some specific areas.
• You should send GSATs to your ES. If the GSAT is signed by an NCS in error, you should contact the ePortfolio Helpdesk. It is likely that you will need to repeat the entire process with the correct supervisor.
• You have to do one GSAT, one EPA and one ESR every six months.
• The term “formative tool” used in the EPA is used for occasions when you might wish to demonstrate progress but are not yet ready to have that competence fully assessed. DOPS or OSATS can be used as formative rather than summative assessments.

Please use the Make a copy button to create a new version of the previous EPA or GSAT for a new Review Period.

The Chair of the Curriculum Sub-Committee has developed a handy checklist for resident doctors, NCSs and ESs as to the forms that need to be completed at the end of each rotation.

The Curriculum Handbook contains full details of who needs to complete what forms and when.

FourteenFish uses the word “survey” for this purpose. Please follow the Help Centre articles for further guidance.

• Once past the self-assessment questionnaire, please add the appropriate mix of colleagues.
• The list of assessors must be discussed and agreed with the ES prior to starting the process. Failure to do so is a probity issue.
• Only professional hospital/Trust email addresses should be used. Personal addresses are not allowed.
• The system will automatically send reminders to any non-responders 10 days after their initial invites are sent out. Should you need any further reminders sent out, please contact the Helpdesk.
• You can add assessors to the MSF at any time. Once you have received 11 responses, the option to Close Survey will become visible in the Progress box.
• The ‘Collect patient feedback’ and peer benchmarking data (percentages) should be disregarded as not applicable to Ophthalmology.
• The comparator data in the Summary Report should also be disregarded – it a feature of the system that cannot be changed.

The process of updating Training Maps to show the next ST stage and Level post-ARCP is, at present, completed manually by College staff.  We are working with FourteenFish to find a more practical, sustainable solution.  Ad hoc instructions will be cascaded before the summer 2026 ARCPs.

The ePortfolio is not replacing the existing surgical logbook. You should use the same ESR button (Output Data) to generate your PDF report and then upload it to the Logbook tab in your Learning Logs.

The role of the College is to define the curriculum requirements only, and it is for the deaneries to manage Level 4 timetables. While all deaneries are supposed to offer Level 4 posts, they do not have to guarantee a resident’s preferred choice.

Specialist societies (e.g. BEAVRS, BIPOSA) were consulted about the amount of time likely to be required for resident doctors to be entrusted to undertake independently the activities described in the Level 4 syllabi. Those that are more surgically based, and/or where experience of the specialist surgery is likely to have been limited before entering Level 4 training, are longer. These are only indicative times as Curriculum 2024 is competency-based.

All resident doctors are required to complete at least two Level 4 Patient Management SIAs. It is expected that most will achieve or be close to achieving Level 4 in Cataract Surgery by the mid-point of ST6, as well as achieve Level 3 in all other SIAs. They may then proceed to complete their Level 4 Cataract Surgery (if not already done) and take on another Level 4 in the remaining training time. However, equally, they could choose to complete two further Level 4s in the remaining time. For example, trainees who have completed Level 4 Cataract Surgery and all Level 3 in other SIAs by mid-ST6 could use their final 18 months of allowed training to complete Level 4 training in both Urgent Eye Care and Community Ophthalmology. However, training cannot be extended beyond the 7-year training envelope to undertake additional, longer SIAs. Educational Supervisors and TPDs will advise about individual selections.

The specialist societies have advised that the curriculum content stated in the Level 4 syllabi is deliverable within the indicative times given. This ensures that resident doctors can perform the core Level 4 SIA procedures independently.

To note that in some of the SIAs – e.g. Vitreoretinal Surgery and Cornea and Ocular Surface Disease – the Level 4 curriculum does not cover the full complexity of surgical procedures performed by specialist consultants. In such cases, resident doctors might still choose to proceed to a post-CCT fellowship to gain these additional skills.

However, it is anticipated that, in many of the SIAs, ophthalmologists with a CCT will be equipped to move straight into a consultant post.

Completion of Level 4 training in all of the generic domains and at least two of the Patient Management SIAs is a requirement for CCT.  If you had only completed one Level 4 PM SIA by the end of the 7 years of training, you would be awarded an Outcome 3 (‘inadequate progress’) to extend the training time and allow completion of the second SIA.

Having successfully completed the training programme, you will hold a CCT that allows you to apply for consultant posts. Your consultant employer will include in their selection procedure a person specification for the post. The College advises that Level 4 competence in Cataract Surgery is the minimum standard for a consultant practicing in this area.

Most ophthalmic academic residents should have transferred from Level 3 to 4 during their post-doctoral periods e.g. as NIHR (National Institute of Health and Care) Clinical Lecturers (CLs) or during their personal post-doctoral training fellowships. Completion of training is competence (not time) based, so having time protected for academic training (e.g. 50% clinical:50% research) should not affect the CCT date, provided the required clinical competencies are met.

However, ophthalmology is a craft specialty, with residents required to undertake certain procedures on a number of occasions to become competent to perform the procedure independently. Clinical training may take longer, for example if the recommended minimum two operating lists per week for academic resident is not provided.

NIHR CL posts are for a maximum of four years or until CCT is reached. The GMC has agreed with NIHR that “setting a target CCT date is best determined flexibly, and tailored to the needs of the individual resident doctor.”  The target date for CCT for NIHR CLs should be determined at the first annual ARCP following the award of a CL and following assessment of the initial progress in post.  The same process would be appropriate for those on personal post-doctoral fellowships.

Once this has been set, the CCT date can be extended further through the use of an ARCP Outcome 3. This may prove particularly important once trainees progress to Level 4, if it becomes apparent that competencies may not be met on a timetable of 50% clinical work. The RCOphth endorses the NIHR’s view that ‘if there is a need to extend clinical training this should not be regarded as a failure’, but rather necessary to achieve the outcome of simultaneously completing specialist clinical training and academic training.

Various mapping exercises have been undertaken with TPDs to ascertain that all Deaneries are able to offer Level 4 training in virtually all SIAs.                          Out of Programme Training (OOPT) is not an appropriate mechanism for expanding Level 4 opportunities.

We expect that most resident doctors will want to stay in the Deanery in which they have been based for the preceding six years. However, if Level 4 training in their chosen SIA is not available in their own Deanery, they are advised to discuss alternatives with their educational team.

The median number of residents in a Deanery is about 35, which means that approximately 5 will be entering Level 4 training each year, with 11 different SIAs to choose from. The College’s priority is to maintain the quality of training, which means there has to be a limit on the number of Level 4 posts in each SIA in the Deanery, otherwise the experience is diluted. If the resident is unable to get a Level 4 post in their chosen SIA in their Deanery, they may have to complete Level 4 in a different SIA and then choose to apply for a post-CCT Fellowship in their chosen SIA.

Some have been converted to Level 4 training posts. Others have become Level 1-3 posts. Residents remaining on the old curriculum can undertake TSCs until their CCT date. However, TSC timetables are different from Level 4 posts, despite a few similarities.

As these are funded by local Trusts / Health boards, they should not have been affected by the introduction of Curriculum 2024. If a unit was able to provide both Level 4 and a post-CCT Fellowship in a particular SIA, the post-CCT fellowship should have continued in the current form.

Two Level 4 SIAs may be done simultaneously or sequentially. This depends on the logistics of the timetable that can be created for that post. Similarly, any restrictions to the combinations will be guided by the indicative time required and the ability of the unit/region to provide the required timetable for training (for example, it may be extremely difficult to match Level 4 Oculoplastics and Paediatric Ophthalmology as the indicative time is up to 18 months and 12 months respectively).

Only two Level 4 SIAs are required for CCT.  It may be possible in rare circumstances but, in practice, it would be difficult to fit three SIAs into 7 years of training. A third Level 4 SIA could be pursued as a post-CCT fellowship.

The GMC has asked all Royal Colleges to remove numbers from their curriculum. The emphasis must be on competence. Some resident doctors will be excellent independent cataract surgeons after 250 phacos. Others may need to do over 400 under supervision before achieving full competence. It is expected that the majority of residents will be competent after completing 350 phacos, and this may be used as an indicative number for Level 4 Cataract Surgery. It is worth reiterating that Curriculum 2024 syllabi have no minimum numbers for any surgical procedures.

Resident doctors are given an ARCP Outcome 3 and additional time to achieve the required competencies.

Level 4 training is part of the run-through specialty programme. As UK resident doctors are able to obtain SIA experience prior to CCT, there should be less demand for post-CCT fellowships from them. This might result in greater opportunities for non-UK specialty doctors to apply for SIA fellowships.

Once a resident doctor has been signed off at Level 4 for Cataract Surgery, there will be no requirement to demonstrate ongoing competence while doing other Level 4 SIAs. This is similar to some post-CCT fellowships, which concentrate solely on the chosen SIA with no exposure to cataract surgery.

The following ranges should be used when planning Level 4 SIAs:

• Up to 18 months – Oculoplastics & Orbit, Cornea & Ocular Surface Disease, Glaucoma, Vitreoretinal Surgery
• 12-18 months – Uveitis, Medical Retina, Ocular Motility, Neuro-ophthalmology, Paediatric Ophthalmology
• 6-12 months – Cataract Surgery, Urgent Eye Care, Community Ophthalmology (could be integrated longitudinally across the entire training programme)

These are indicative durations because Curriculum 2024 is competence-based.

There must be no discrimination against LTFT resident doctors in the selection process. The same transparent selection method – including an application form and scoring system – must be used for all applicants.

Where an LTFT resident doctor is selected for a Level 4 SIA, their timetable or hospital placements may differ from full-time equivalents. Ad hoc timetable arrangements should be discussed with the Postgraduate Dean. TPDs should ask resident doctors to declare their preferred working percentage as early as possible. OOPT is not an appropriate mechanism for expanding Level 4 opportunities for LTFT resident doctors.