Specialty Certificate Examination in Palliative Medicine
| Diets | Exam date | Application period | Reasonable Adjustment Deadline | Results release | Certificates posted |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025/01 | 5 March 2025 | 13 November - 11 December 2024 | 19 December 2024 | 4 April 2025 | 06 June 2025 |
| 2025/02 | 10 December 2025 | 20 August - 17 September 2025 | 25 September 2025 | 4 weeks after exam date | 8 weeks after results release |
| 2026/01 | 16 September 2026 | 27 May-24 June 2026 | 2 July 2026 | 4 weeks after exam | 8 weeks after results release |
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:
Resources for trainees
The SCE is a knowledge-based examination that covers the UK Palliative Medicine curricula (2010 and 2022). The SCE tests both specific knowledge and its relevant clinical application. Because safe specialty practice requires broad medical knowledge, some questions examine the management of disease processes for cancer and non-malignant conditions. Candidates should refer to the SCE blueprint to help focus their revision.
Preparation should involve reading textbooks, journals and national guidelines. Experience of the MRCP(UK) examination provides an excellent background to the examination format.
Although not exhaustive, suggested sources and reading are listed below:
Guidelines
- Cochrane (abstracts with a focus on pain, palliative care and palliative cancer management)
- National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (focus on guidelines related to chronic disease management, cancer and palliative and end–of–life care)
- Scottish Palliative Care Guidelines
- Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer (MASCC) guidelines
- SIGN guidelines
- British Thoracic Society, Trend Diabetes & Diabetes UK and other UK guidelines
Drug Formularies
- British National Formulary
- Palliative Care Formulary
Journals (focus on systematic reviews and published guidelines)
- British Medical Journal
- BMJ Supportive and Palliative Care
- Journal of pain and symptom management
- Palliative Medicine
- Medicine Journal
Legislation
- The official home of UK Legislation: UK, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland
England and Wales
- Ministry of Justice – Mental Capacity Act /Coroners, burial and cremation
- Office of the Public Guardian – Lasting Power of Attorney
Scotland
- General Register Office Scotland
- Office of the Public Guardian
- Scottish Government – Adults with Incapacity Act
Northern Ireland
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:
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.