Joint CCT Queries

UK specialty recognition for Intensive Care Medicine was achieved in 1999 and a competency-based training programme, one of the first in the UK, was developed. Blocks of ICM training to be taken at different stages of 'parent' specialty training were described, along with 'complementary' training modules (i.e. complementary medicine for anaesthetists, complementary anaesthesia for physicians). Successful completion of this training for a trainee who had competed for entry to the training programme resulted in the award of a Joint Certificate of Completion of (Specialist) Training in their parent specialty and ICM. This system of training ran until 2010. However, according to section 3 of The General and Specialist Medical Practice (Education, Training and Qualifications) Order, 2003, ICM is a single separate recognised specialty and so required a single, standalone CCT. The Joint CCT did not meet this requirement. The standalone ICM CCT curriculum was then written and received GMC approval in 2011.

The Joint CCT was so called because ICM CCT training could only be taken by trainees who were already in a “parent” specialty training programme (Anaesthetics, Medicine, Emergency Medicine or Surgery), and consisted of small, defined blocks of ICM (3 months Basic, 6 months Intermediate, 12 months Advanced) which trainees picked up as they progressed through their parent specialty training. The standalone CCT enables trainees to train solely in Intensive Care Medicine, without the need of a parent specialty (though these trainees can undertake Dual CCTs if successfully recruited to such).

The GMC mandated that all recruitment to the Joint CCT programme ended by 31st July 2013. There was no further recruitment to the Joint CCT after this date. However, all trainees appointed to the Joint CCT before this deadline are permitted to stay in the programme until completion.

No. The Joint CCT was always recruited to at local level. National Recruitment for ICM relates solely to the new standalone ICM CCT.

Yes. You should submit a CCT Trainee Registration form. This is a separate matter to General Registration and unless you are appropriately registered with the FICM you will not be signed-off for your Joint CCT.

It is a regulation within the Joint CCT curriculum that Advanced training must be undertaken as a single 12-month block, with any exceptions requiring express prior written approval from the Faculty. However, as a CCT trainee the Deanery is obliged to provide you with all the training necessary to complete their approved CCT programme, and complementary specialty training should be completed before entry into Advanced level ICM.

Not as the full medicine requirement – a maximum of 3 months of Emergency Medicine can be counted toward Joint CCT complementary medicine.

Yes, provided that your ICM Regional Advisor is satisfied that you have not only obtained but also retained all the necessary complementary competencies. If it has been some time since you undertook the relevant complementary training, your RA may require you to undertake an assessment to be sure that you have the necessary skills and knowledge, or indeed undertake another full complementary training module.

If you have been appointed to an ICM Joint CCT post (via competitive interview, as detailed above), then your Deanery has been approved by the GMC to run the Joint CCT programme. A condition of this approval is that the Deanery must be able to provide all of the components necessary to complete that programme – including complementary specialty training. If your Deanery refuses to provide you with the necessary complementary training blocks then they are in breach of their GMC programme approval and as such can be reported to the regulator.

No, you do not. Trainees being sent outside their Deanery to gain competences for their Joint CCT (be it ICM or complementary specialty) do not need to apply to the GMC for OOPT approval. Such training blocks are inter-Deanery secondments undertaken as part of the GMC-approved ICM Joint CCT programme. As such they are not out of programme and do not require OOPT approval.

No. The FICM will allow a maximum of 3 months of PICM training to count toward Advanced level training, but no PICM at all can be counted toward Intermediate level ICM. Trainees should consult with their parent specialty Colleges as to how much, if any, PICM can be counted toward their parent specialty programme.

No. As agreed with the GMC and COPMeD a trainee on the Joint CCT may resign from that programme and re-apply for the standalone CCT, but there is no direct transfer between the two programmes.

No. There is no examination component built into the Joint CCT curriculum. However, Joint CCT trainees are eligible to sit the FFICM examination on a voluntary basis.