Out of 1451 candidates in the MRCP(UK) Part 2 Written Examination on the 6 September 2023 (Diet 2023/3), 283 were given the wrong result - 61 candidates who were told they had failed have passed and 222 candidates who were told they had passed have failed.
Dr Mike Jones, Executive Medical Director of the Federation said:
On behalf of the Federation of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of the UK, we deeply and unreservedly apologise for this situation. We appreciate how distressing the candidates affected will find this, and for some it will create an additional burden to the hard and vital work they do.
We are directly informing all candidates who have been impacted via email today (Wednesday 19 February) to explain how it affects them. We are providing one-to-one support to them from clinicians. Details about this support and next steps have been included in the communication with the affected candidates. Examinations fees will be refunded, a resit will be free of fees and other help provided according to individual circumstances. Candidates who sat this examination and do not receive an email from us in the next 24 hours are not impacted.
The MRCP(UK) examination is the gold standard of early physician assessment, and its standards are rigorously upheld. Regrettably, although the problem was not their fault, candidates who we now know did not pass, must re-sit and pass the exam in order to be awarded the MRCP(UK) Diploma and to progress in their training.
Our own audit processes identified the issue which we can confirm is isolated to this specific exam and there is no fault on the part of any candidate. UK resident doctors who are likely to have taken this examination are at an early level of practice and are under the supervision of consultant physicians and therefore no new risk to patient safety.
We know that candidates will have questions, and we will do everything we can to minimise the consequences for them and support their next steps. We will learn lessons from this and have identified and remedied the fault. We will also work with the resident Doctors Committees of the three Royal Colleges of Physicians, and we will involve them and their colleges in a wider review of our governance and strategic plans to prevent it from happening again. Finally, we will have our measures externally reviewed.
If you sat this examination and are concerned you may be affected, please contact our exams administration team on +44 203 0751515. Phone lines are open 8am-6pm (UK) Monday to Friday, and 9am-4pm (UK) Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 February.