Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists

An Accreditation Sub-Committee was established in 1970 to direct the accreditation of training and report to Council. The committee approved following procedure: - a member of the College should be eligible to apply for accreditation after three years further approved experience and training in obstetrics and gynaecology beyond the requirements of the MRCOG examination, of which two years were to be subsequent to admission to the membership of the RCOG and normally in a post of responsibility corresponding to that of a senior registrar in an NHS hospital; the administration of accreditation should be the responsibility of the Postgraduate Medical Education Committee. (Council minutes 26 Sept 1970; Archives reference: B13/1) Later known as the Accreditation Panel, and from 1973 as the Accreditation Committee, it became the Higher Training Committee (HTC) in 1984. Its role was to "oversee and regulate all matters pertaining to higher training" and was responsible for: inspecting and recognising higher training posts at registrar and senior registrar levels; agreeing higher training programmes for accreditation; monitoring the progress of trainees; recommending individuals to Council for accreditation; advising Council on the regulations for accreditation. In December 1985 a Subspecialty Board was established as a sub-committee of the Higher Training Committee; in July 1988 this Board became an independent standing committee. In 1998 the Higher Training Committee's functions relating to the recognition of specialist registrar posts was passed to the Hospital Recognition Committee (HRC). The Higher Training Committee continued to carry out its other functions under the new name of the Specialist Training Committee from 1999. The Specialist Training Committee was disbanded in July 2007 and was replaced by the Specialty Education Advisory Committee (SEAC). The function of the Committee is to be responsible for the content, structure and delivery of the Specialty Training Programme and to advise the eligibility of doctors for the award of the Certificate of Completion of Training. All the above committees were/are serviced by the College's Postgraduate Training Department (PGT) and reported to the Education Board.