Background

In the UK Armed Forces, DGPs provide a range of primary care, prehospital emergency care (PHEC) and preventative medicine services to service personnel, and their families, in global UK military bases and deployed on operations. They comprise of regular and reservist (uniformed) DGPs and civilian DGPs employed by the Ministry of Defence (MOD). Although temporary healthcare workers are employed by Defence, they are not the focus of this article. All DGPs are registered with the GMC and hold a licence for independent practice within the UK. They have completed an approved training pathway and uniformed DGPs do so with the additional support of the residential general practice specialty training course.3 This course strives to bridge the gap between the civilian curriculum and the knowledge and skills required of DGPs.4 There is no equivalent for civilian DGPs who learn their role on the job supported by an induction document, the lead civilian DGP and their inpractice colleagues.5 Furthermore, the clinical exposure in Defence Primary Healthcare (DPHC) does not support currency in the skill set required on operations.6 7

Recovery from the global pandemic, and an increased tempo of civil and military operations, has heightened the daily demands on DPHC services; as a result, time for CPD is often de-prioritised. Further, CPD for UK Medical Appraisal and Revalidation is reliant on self-identified learning needs rather than an …