You've found an AKT or SCA course that looks right for you. Then someone in your GP training WhatsApp group mentions that you might be able to claim the money back from your NHS study leave budget. Perhaps you've heard about a £600 allowance or the code GP0001. Perhaps a colleague had their course fees reimbursed last year. But is that £600 available to everyone? Does it cover online courses and question banks? And can you still claim if you've already paid? The answer depends on where you train, the type of course you choose and whether you get approval before you pay. I've worked with GP trainees for over 15 years, including as a former GP Training Programme Director, and study leave funding is one of the questions I'm asked about most. This guide sets out what the current NHS guidance says region by region, how to apply and the mistakes that cost trainees money. The short answer: GP trainees can apply for study leave funding towards AKT and SCA preparation courses, but the rules depend on where you train. In London and Kent, Surrey and Sussex, the published limit is up to £600 per exam preparation course. Other regions set different limits, prefer particular providers or only fund their own regional courses. There is no guaranteed £600 for every GP trainee in the UK, and in almost every region approval has to come before you pay. Guidance checked: November 2026. Always confirm the latest position with your GP School or employer before you buy a course. – Join National AKT WhatsApp teaching group here – Join National SCA WhatsApp teaching group here – For GP trainee update and teaching emails click here – For MRCGP AKT Preparation click here – For MRCGP SCA Preparation click here
Ask most GP trainees which SCA cases they dread and the answer is rarely a clinical one. It is not a rare diagnosis or a complicated drug interaction that keeps people awake before their exam. It is the angry patient, the one who refuses everything you suggest, the one who will not open up, or the one who does not seem to care at all. These cases are not difficult because of the medicine. They are difficult because of the person in front of you, and if you do not deal with that person first, the rest of the consultation rarely goes well, no matter how clinically sound your management plan is. This blog looks at seven of the patient types that come up repeatedly in the SCA, and the specific, learnable techniques that make each one manageable. – Join SCA WhatsApp Teaching Group here – Get SCA Updates and Teaching Emails here – Register for next Free SCA Webinar here – Pass with SCA Ultimate Package here
If you’re practicing for the MRCGP SCA, you have probably already had the experience of looking up at the clock with two minutes left and a management plan you have barely started. It is one of the most common frustrations GP trainees describe, and the usual advice, talk faster, cut the small talk, rush the examination findings, tends to make things worse rather than better. Speed is not the problem. The problem is almost always what you are spending your twelve minutes on. This blog explains how to think about SCA time management properly, using the structure we teach trainees who go on to pass with real time to spare. – Join SCA WhatsApp Teaching Group here – Get SCA Updates and Teaching Emails here – Register for next Free SCA Webinar here – Pass with SCA Ultimate Package here
Ask a group of GP trainees what they know about the ARCP and you tend to get one of three answers. Some have only half heard of it. Some know it is important but assume it is still a long way off. And some have heard just enough, usually from someone else's bad experience, to feel quietly anxious about it without knowing why. All three groups tend to end up in the same place: doing most of their ARCP preparation in the final fortnight, when it should really have been happening all year. This guide sets out what the ARCP actually is, who reviews it, what they are looking at, what each outcome means, and why the most common poor outcome is also the most avoidable. If you understand the process early, in ST1 rather than the week before your first panel, it stops being something to worry about and becomes something you simply keep on top of. – Join National AKT WhatsApp teaching group here – Join National SCA WhatsApp teaching group here – For GP trainee update and teaching emails click here – For MRCGP AKT Preparation click here – For MRCGP SCA Preparation click here
