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Enrol on to PMST

Enrolling on to the PMST programme is a two-stage process involving the submission of a completed application form with supporting evidence and attendance at a PMST Enrolment Assessment Day.

Stage 1: application process

1.1. Things to consider

Before deciding to enrol on to the Pharmaceutical Medicine Specialty Training (PMST) programme, the pharmaceutical physician should consider the following questions:

Do you know why you want to enrol on to the PMST programme?
Do you have the time to commit to undertake the four-year specialty training programme?
Do you work in the UK for a pharmaceutical organisation that is a GMC-approved training location?
Will your employer support your training, give you the time to attend courses and sit the Diploma in Pharmaceutical Medicine examination, and provide you with the opportunities to complete the specialty and generic capabilities in practice (CiP) in-work or by attending external courses?

1.2. Eligibility criteria

The potential applicant must:

a) be GMC registered with a licence to practise
b) be working in pharmaceutical medicine in the UK with a UK-based pharmaceutical organisation that is a GMC-approved training location
c) have completed at least four years of clinical training and/or experience
d) have met other criteria for pharmaceutical medicine
e) have a GMC-approved Educational Supervisor (ES) in pharmaceutical medicine.

The applicant can find out whether they are eligible to enrol on to the PMST programme before submitting an application by completing our CV template and returning it to FPM’s Specialty Training Manager.

Our Director of Specialty Training will review the CV and give a preliminary view on the applicant’s eligibility for PMST. The Director’s preliminary view is not a guarantee of enrolment on to the PMST programme. A formal decision will be made based on the completed application form, supporting documentary evidence and the outcome of the assessment day.

1.3. Making the application

Complete the application forms listed below:

‘Associate (Trainee) Membership and PMST Application Form’
‘Certificate of Professional and Clinical Competencies for Pharmaceutical Medicine’
‘Reliance on clinical research physician experience’ form (if applicable)

We advise applicants to read our guidance for PMST applicants before completing the application forms. Completed application forms and supporting documentary evidence must be returned by email to the Specialty Training Manager by one of the published submission deadlines (see stage two below).

PMST application forms and guidance

Stage 2: assessment process

2.1. Purpose

From 1 April 2021, all PMST applicants must attend a PMST Enrolment Assessment Day (assessment day). The assessment days will normally be held quarterly (see table 1).

The purpose of the assessment day is to:

i) assess the applicant’s suitability to enrol on to the PMST programme; and

ii) approve or postpone the applicant’s enrolment on to the programme by scoring the applicant’s presentation skills and interview performance.

The assessment day is not designed to determine whether the applicant is competent:

to work as a pharmaceutical physician; or
in the role they were recruited to perform for their employer.

Decisions about an applicant’s work performance falls outside our remit for education and training and will normally be assessed by the applicant’s employing pharmaceutical organisation through processes such as performance reviews and annual appraisals.

2.2. General arrangements

The applicant must submit their application form and supporting documentary evidence by the published submission deadlines without exception. Applications received after a submission deadline will be evaluated for the next assessment round.

If an applicant submits an incomplete application (this includes submitting an incomplete application form or not including supporting documentary evidence), then their assessment may be deferred to the next assessment round. Therefore, it is important that the application form is completed in full and returned with all the relevant documentary evidence.

Applicants who return fully completed applications by the published submission deadline will be provisionally booked to attend the assessment day of the current round. FPM will confirm the booking after the Director of Specialty Training has provisionally approved the applicant’s enrolment on to the PMST programme.

Each assessment day currently has a limit of seven places. If we receive more applications during an assessment round, we will book places for the first seven applications we receive by the submission date. The remaining applicants will be deferred to the next assessment round unless a slot becomes available and then we will offer the place to first person on that list.

Assessment Day Rounds 2023

Applicants must return their completed application forms and supporting documentary evidence by one of the application submission deadlines in the table below without exception. We will not process applications received after the submission deadline for consideration in the current round; these applications may be deferred to the next assessment round.

Table 1
Round	Application submission deadline	Assessment Day
Round 1	28 February 2023, 17:00 (GMT)	28 March 2023, Zoom
Round 2	30 May 2023, 17:00 (GMT +1)	27 June 2023, Zoom
Round 3	29 August 2023, 17:00 (GMT +1)	26 September 2023, Zoom
Round 4	14 November 2023; 17:00 (GMT)	12 December 2023, Zoom

2.3. Format of the assessment day

Applicants will be required to:

i) deliver a presentation, which will normally be 20 minutes in duration; and
ii) an interview with a panel, which will normally be 30 minutes in duration.

The applicant will receive full details about their assessment after they receive notification that their application has been provisionally approved.

2.4. The assessment panel

The panel will be responsible for:

i) assessing the applicant’s presentation skills and interview performance; and
ii) making the final decision to enrol or postpone the applicant’s enrolment on to the PMST programme.

The members of the panel will normally be:

– Director of Specialty Training (panel chairperson)
– Chair or member of FPM’s Education Standards Committee
– Specialist registrant in pharmaceutical medicine
– Trainee representative (normally the chair or member of FPM’s Trainees’ Committee)
– Lay representative of the Pharmaceutical Medicine Specialist Advisory Committee

2.5. Assessment panel outcomes

The assessment panel can issue the applicant one of the outcomes listed in the table 2 below.

Table 2: assessment panel outcomes
Outcome	Description
Approved without recommendations	The panel is content to approve the applicant’s enrolment on to the PMST programme without recommendations. The panel was satisfied with the applicant's performance at the assessment day and that the applicant demonstrated in their application and supporting documentary evidence they are equipped to undertake PMST.
Approved with recommendations	The panel is content to approve the applicant’s enrolment on to the PMST programme for the same reasons above but make recommendations the prospective trainee should consider as they prepare to undertake specialty training. A record of the recommendations will be shared with the Annual Review of Competence Progression (ARCP) panel at the trainee’s first ARCP.
Approval postponed	The panel has postponed approving the applicant’s enrolment on to the PMST programme because during the assessment day because the applicant's performance at the assessment day was unsatisfactory or the panel identified areas of the applicant’s knowledge, behaviour and attitude that need development before they can start PMST, or both. The panel can postpone approving an application for one or more reasons such as: i) the applicant must provide additional evidence of competencies – the panel must specify what these are; ii) the applicant must sit/re-sit and pass the Certificate of Pharmaceutical Medicine (CPM); iii) the applicant must provide current evidence that they are fit to practise; or iv) the applicant must provide evidence that any outstanding issue or issues of concern have been investigated and resolved. This list not exhaustive and the panel might have other reasons, which must be explained to the applicant, for postponing approval her or his application. Any task or requirement the panel has set the applicant, must be completed within a reasonable period. A reasonable period should not be more than one year from the date of the assessment day.

2.6. Review of an assessment panel decision

An applicant is entitled to request the panel review its decision to postpone its approval to enrol the applicant on to the PMST programme. The request must be in writing and can include supporting documentary evidence. The written request must be sent to the panel chair within ten working days from the date the decision was sent to the applicant. The applicant must state the specific reason or reasons why the panel should review its decision.

The panel chair and as many of the original panel will meet as soon as is practicable to review its decision. The panel can meet remotely by video call. The panel may also invite the applicant to attend the meeting if it decides this is appropriate. The panel’s decision is final and there is no further appeal process.

PMST enrolment FAQs

No. You can work in pharmaceutical medicine without first completing the PMST programme. However, we strongly advise you to complete at least four years of clinical training/experience before you join the specialty in case you want to undertake PMST in the future.

You must have achieved clinical and professional competencies in managing patients, which may include clinical trial participants, over a period of four years.

You must be able to provide evidence of having managed patients in a range of acute and long-term illnesses; of close involvement on a regular basis with the management of such patients through multi-disciplinary team meetings; of managing clinical research study participants; of prescribing, administering and monitoring the effects of medicines.

We recommend you achieve your clinical competencies before you enter pharmaceutical medicine.

Doctors who completed approved UK clinical training should include the following type of evidence of their professional and clinical competencies for eligibility to enrol on to PMST:

UK Foundation Programme year 1 (F1) and year 2 (F2) ARCP outcome forms
UK core or specialty training ARCP outcome forms. Unsatisfactory outcomes (i.e. 2 and 3) and Outcome 4 (released from programme) must be included in the submission
Foundation/core/specialty training workplace-based assessments, case-and/or project-based reflective practice
360-degree multi-source feedback

Applicants must also include their completed ‘Certificate of Professional and Clinical Competencies for Pharmaceutical Medicine’.

Doctors who completed approved overseas clinical training should include the following type of evidence of their professional and clinical competencies for eligibility to enrol on to PMST:

internship completion certificate(s), specialist or GP certificate(s)
regulatory authority or royal college (e.g. Royal Australasian College of Physicians) letter confirming completion of approved overseas training
reference from employing hospital(s) commenting favourably upon your competence as a clinician

Applicants must also include their completed ‘Certificate of Professional and Clinical Competencies for Pharmaceutical Medicine’.

Doctors who partially completed approved UK clinical training, approved overseas clinical training or both, and gained the remainder of their clinical experience in non-training clinical posts before leaving clinical practice to work in pharmaceutical medicine,should include the following type of evidence of their professional and clinical competencies for eligibility to enrol on to PMST:

UK Foundation Programme F1 and F2 ARCP outcome forms-UK core or specialty training ARCP outcome forms. Unsatisfactory outcomes (i.e. 2 and 3) and Outcome 4 (released from programme) must be included in submission-
Foundation/core/specialty training workplace-based assessments,case-and/or project-based reflective practice
360-degree multi-source feedback
Internship completion certificate(s), specialist or GP certificate(s)
Regulatory authority or royal college (e.g. Royal Australasian College of Physicians) letter confirming completion of approved overseas training
Reference from employing hospital(s) commenting favourably upon your competence as a clinician

Applicants must also include their completed ‘Certificate of Professional and Clinical Competencies for Pharmaceutical Medicine’.

The Specialty Training Manager will check you have completed your application in full and included documentary evidence to support the clinical posts you are relying on for eligibility.

If the Specialty Training Manager is satisfied that your application is complete, they will:

i) send it to the Director of Specialty Training to evaluate and decide whether to provisionally approve the application; and

ii) provisionally booked your place on an assessment day.

If the Director provisionally approves your application, the Specialty Training Manager will confirm your place on the assessment day.

You will:

– become an Associate (Trainee) member of FPM if you are not already an FPM member

– be issued your National Training Number (NTN) in pharmaceutical medicine

– be given your programme start and end date

– be given the date of your first Annual Review of Competence Progression (ARCP)

– be sent invoices for payment of FPM’s annual PMST fee and Associate (Trainee) membership subscription (if applicable), and

– have your connection moved from your current designated body to the Pharmaceutical Medicine Deanery for revalidation purposes

The Joint Royal Colleges of Physicians Training Board (JRCPTB) will contact you to pay its upfront enrolment fee. You will be given access to a trainee e-portfolio after you have paid the fee.

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