Certificate of Readiness to Enter Specialty Training (CREST) 2024 (Reference version)

This is a reference version of the Certificate of Readiness to Enter Specialty Training (CREST) 2024 form and instructions

Please note that making a false declaration in this form will result in any offer of a training post being withdrawn and consideration being given to you being referred to the General Medical Council (GMC).

Instructions to applicants

1. This certificate can only be signed by a Consultant or equivalent. For the purposes of this documentation, Consultant includes General Practitioners, Clinical Directors, Medical Superintendents, Academic Professors, and locum Consultants with a Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT) or Certificate of Eligibility for Specialist Registration (CESR) and who are on the specialist register.
2. Consultants are only eligible to sign this certificate if they have worked with you for a minimum continuous period of 3 months whole-time equivalent wholly within the 3½ years prior to the advertised post start date for which you are applying. Please note clinical attachments and observer posts cannot be used to evidence this requirement. Please ensure you have read the Evidence of Foundation Competence Applicant Guide.
3. If your signatory is registered with any medical regulatory authority other than the GMC, then you should also make sure they submit current evidence of their registration with that authority. A certified translation should be included if this is not in English. Historic registration with the GMC will not be accepted. Failure to provide this will result in you, the applicant, being rejected.
4. You should not use a signatory with whom you have a close personal relationship.
5. You must be rated as demonstrated for each and every professional capability listed on this certificate. If you cannot demonstrate that you have achieved all your professional capabilities in one post, you may submit additional evidence to the signatory who, if they agree that it demonstrates capability may accept it in lieu of direct observation. If you cannot demonstrate each and every professional capability, you will not be eligible for Specialty Training at ST1 or CT1 level. Should your signatory select ‘unable to confirm’ for any of the competencies, you will not be eligible for Specialty Training.
6. If you have ever started but not satisfactorily completed a UKFPO-appointed 2-year Foundation programme or FY2 standalone post, then you should not use this form. Instead, you should approach the Foundation School Director where your previous training took place and either request to return to complete that training or provide such evidence as they request then ask the Dean of that area to complete and sign the Dean's Supporting Declaration proforma.
7. The certificate must be complete in every detail, including details about the person completing it for you. Incomplete certificates may lead to your application being deemed ineligible for that recruitment round. It is strongly recommended that you check the form after your signatory has completed it using the CREST checklist.
8. If the certificate is digitally signed, an email from the signatory's work email address, confirming authenticity, should be scanned and uploaded with the certificate.
9. Please see Oriel resource bank for further information on completion of this form.
10. You must then scan, upload and attach it (as one single document) to your application form before submission. It is your sole responsibility to ensure that the CREST form is satisfactorily completed in full prior to submission.
11. Because of changes to the process, only the 2024 version of this form will be accepted.
12. The form will remain valid for future rounds of application provided that those conditions still apply to the new intended start date.