In 2005, an Order of Parliament (PMETB order, 2005) abolished the statutory duties of the Royal Colleges, which had previously held responsibility for postgraduate training in the UK, and created a new body known as the Postgraduate Medical Education Training Board (PMETB) for the same purpose (The General and Specialist Medical Practice Order, 2005). The PMETB is a government-appointed institution which includes only a minority medical representation. Future training across all medical specialties is to be based on a competency model as part of Modernising Medical Careers (MMC) (Gold Guide, 2007). The Intercollegiate Surgical Curriculum Project specifies the new competency-based curriculum based on a defined syllabus. In this context, the syllabus refers to the description of the course content, while the curriculum refers to the format and structure by which the syllabus is taught and assessed.
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