Specialty Certificate Examination in Palliative Medicine

Please ensure you apply for your examination within the application period and have submitted your reasonable adjustment request by the reasonable adjustment deadline.

The Specialty Certificate Examination (SCE) in Palliative Medicine is delivered every nine months.

Eligibility requirements

There are no entry requirements for the SCE in Palliative Medicine, although trainees in UK training posts would normally take the SCE in their penultimate year of higher specialty training.

Qualification: Certificate in Palliative Medicine

Trainees who hold MRCP(UK), have gained the Certificate in Palliative Medicine and who are recommended for a CCT will be entitled to apply for the postnominal MRCP(UK) (Palliative Medicine).

For further details please see the FAQs.

Curriculum and blueprint

The Specialty Training Curriculum for Palliative Medicine is published by the Joint Royal Colleges of Physicians Training Board (JRCPTB).

The examination is made up of questions covering the whole curriculum, selected by a predetermined blueprint:

SCE in Palliative Medicine blueprint

Resources for trainees

Preparation for the SCE requires a wide breadth of knowledge around the curriculum and should involve reading of textbooks, journals and guidelines. Experience of the MRCP(UK) examination provides an excellent background to the format of the examination.

Suggested sources and reading are listed below:

Journals

• British Medical Journal
• BMJ Supportive and Palliative Care
• Journal of Pain and Symptom Management
• Palliative Medicine

Legislation

• The official home of UK Legislation: UK, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland

England and Wales

• Ministry of Justice – Mental Capacity Act/Lasting Power of Attorney/Coroners, burial and cremation

Scotland

• General Register Office Scotland
• Office of the Public Guardian
• Scottish Government – Adults with Incapacity Act

Northern Ireland

• General Register Office Northern Ireland
• Office of Care and Protection

Sample questions

The questions are in ‘best of five’ multiple choice format. This format, in addition to testing core knowledge and comprehension, also assesses the ability to interpret information and to solve clinical problems. There will be five options – one correct answer and four alternatives to the correct answer. The four distractors will be closely related to the preferred option but less correct, therefore acting as plausible alternatives.

These questions give an indication of the type of question you can expect in the exam. Please take part in our interactive sample question test:

• SCE in Palliative Medicine sample questions

Results report

The selected metrics report provides details about the previous year's examination. All the statistics are intended to help candidates to be more informed and better prepared for the examination. The reports are also available to other stakeholders (e.g. deaneries’ representatives, board members, trainees’ supervisors) who would like to find out more about candidates’ performance in order to be able to make informed decisions about training programmes or examination standards.

Palliative Medicine results report

Email updates

Click here to get alerts on the opening of application periods as well as info/tips on revision/preparation resources and more!