[2] Only persons on the Specialist Register can be appointed consultants in the National Health Service (NHS).
The curricula used for the different specialty training schemes are set by the relevant medical royal college.
[5] Under the old system, before applying for the old Registrar posts, applicants were required to have sat and passed part, or all, of a medical royal college's membership examinations while still a Senior House Officer.
Under the new system Foundation doctors do not need to sit these exams as they play no part in the selection process and are discouraged from doing so.
[6] It is, however, still common practice to begin to take these exams during the second year of the foundation programme and is recommended by experts outside MMC.