Unlike the application form for hospital-based training posts, the GPST / GPVTS entry application form (Stage 1) is fairly basic and is not designed to assess anything other than your eligibility to apply to a GP Specialist Training (GPST) Scheme. To be eligible you are required to demonstrate the following:
On the application form you will need to select 4 deaneries and rank them by order of preference. You will need to choose carefully in order to ensure that you obtain a post which suits your geographical needs, bearing in mind that some deaneries are vastly more subscribed to than others.
So for example, in 2011, the London deanery and Northern Ireland were the most subscribed deaneries with a ratio of 2.9 applicants per post, whilst the Mersey deanery only received 1 application per post. That means that if you had selected Mersey as your first choice and were successful, you would be pretty much guaranteed a place there. That also means that, if you had selected London or Northern Ireland as possible deaneries, you would only be able to get into those by placing first in your list of choices.
Selecting your first choice deanery for your GPST/GPVTS programme carefully is extremely important. Indeed, every candidate is being interviewed and considered in the deanery they placed as their first choice. After the assessment has taken place, all candidates are ranked according to their results within that deanery and the top candidates are offered a place in that deanery (which is their first choice). If candidates reject the place they have been offered (e.g. because they are taking up a hospital training post) then their place is offered to the next one on the list, and so on (local clearing). Candidates who are not successful at that stage will then proceed to national clearing based on their 2nd, 3rd and 4th choice.
The main problem occurs when candidates find that all the places in their 2nd, 3rd and 4th choice have already been allocated to people who placed those deaneries as their first choice. It is perfectly possible for a good candidate to have chosen deaneries in such an order that they end up with no post at the end. For example, year on year, all the places in London and Northern Ireland are given to those choosing those deaneries as first choice. It would therefore be pointless to select London or Northern Ireland as anything else than 1st choice. On the other hand, Mersey, with its low application ratio is more likely to be succesful as a 2nd choice as not all places would have been allocated after the selection process.
The application form is reasonably straight forward to complete, though those with complex or foreign career paths may find it more difficult than others. Here are a few tips that you need to take into account in order to save yourself time:
