Communication and consultation skills teaching

The consultation is the fundamental unit of GP work. Maximising effectiveness in the consultation through developing excellence in communication is at the heart of GP training.

The Programme uses the Calgary-Cambridge Consultation Guides as the basis for the teaching of consultation and communication skills.

The bulk of your training in your base practice will revolve around developing consultation skills along-side your clinical knowledge and skills. The Programme trainers focus on this facet of training and themselves receive regular training and support to maximise their effectiveness.

From an early emphasis at the introductory programme, through intensive whole-day sessions and a variety of half-day teaching sessions, including TPD, trainee and actor-led sessions, you will develop your skills in preparation for the Clinical Skills Assessment element of the RCGP Membership examination. We offers two annual mock CSA examinations, run by the Programme with the help of our experienced trainers.

Here is some of the feedback from previous year group’s mock CSA exam:

• Really useful experience to gain insight into the CSA.
• Very useful experience, looking forward to the next session!
• Intense but interesting to get real feel of pressure
• Very good productive exercise.
• Very well run and organised
• Very good session and informative
• Very useful for ST3 especially
• Recommend to do it regularly, maybe at least twice a year