eral Medical Council (GMC) has updated its practical skills and procedures list newly qualified doctors.

 The list, that sets out what procedures newly qualified doctors need to be able to demonstrate when they finish medical school, was updated earlier this month (Tuesday 9 April) by the GMC.

 The GMC confirmed that the core procedures remain unchanged from the previous list, published in 2009, but several new skills are introduced, including ophthalmoscopy (eye examination) and otoscopy (ear examination).

 The new list also sets out whether newly qualified doctors need to be able to perform procedures on a patient on their own or under supervision from a senior colleague. 

Medical schools and training providers have until 2020 to include the new procedures in their curricula. 

The practical skills and procedures list was updated following a public consultation and public consultation and extensive engagement involving students, medical schools and postgraduate stakeholders.  The GMC said the consultation “…highlighted a previous lack of consistency in whether students were meant to perform procedures on a patient or within a simulation, which has been clarified in the new list.”