Following a decision by the Federation of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of the UK in response to the UK wide lockdown and pressures on the NHS, we regret to advise that the start of the 2021.1 UK PACES examination diet is to be delayed until 13 March 2021.

The three Royal Colleges of Physicians’ examination teams are working with their centres to reschedule and will be in contact with all candidates as soon as rescheduled dates are available.

Professor Jackie Taylor, RCPSG President and chair of the Federation said:

“We regret having to delay the start of this diet of clinical examinations, due to the escalating pandemic and pressures on the NHS. We appreciate how difficult a time this is for doctors in training, but felt it was important to make a decision which brought clarity to the situation. We are actively exploring rescheduling options and will work hard to minimise the impact on trainees.”

We would like to assure trainees that their career progression will not be negatively affected by this change to the start of the first diet of 2021. New dates will be announced as soon as they are finalised.

PACES in international centres will continue as scheduled. We will contact candidates directly if this situation changes.

For the latest updates, visit the MRCP(UK) website: https://www.mrcpuk.org/latest-news