Desk review part 1

Summary of GP equalities impact results

• Data from annual equalities impact reports, produced by WPG, between 2007 and 2011 was analysed to compare findings in relation to group differences in selection performance.
• The annual equalities impact reports provide an anonymised analysis of the demographic data collected by the GP National recruitment office (NRO) from candidates participating in the national selection process.
• A comparative analysis of the reports produced between 2007 and 2011 highlighted some consistent findings in terms of group differences in selection.

Gender

Female candidates significantly outperform male candidates on the selection centre (SC) total scores, all exercises and competencies2. In addition, the proportion of males successful at the SC was significantly lower than the proportion of females.

Age

Younger candidates performed significantly better than older candidates on SC total scores, all exercises and competencies. On the whole the mean age of participants has increased since 2007.

Ethnicity

The proportion of White candidates has been higher than the proportion of any other ethnic group since 2007. Overall, since 2007, the proportion of Asian, Black, Chinese and Other candidates who were successful at SC was significantly less than the proportion of White candidates.

On the whole White candidates perform better than ethnic minority groups with minor variations across the years.

2008

White candidates performed better than all groups except Chinese candidates on the written exercise only.

2009

Results were the same as 2008 with the addition that there were no significant differences between White and Mixed candidates on the simulation exercise and emotional sensitivity.

2010

The variations observed were that there were no significant differences between White and Mixed or Chinese candidates on some exercises and competencies in round 1.

• White candidates performed significantly better than all ethnic groups apart from Chinese in the written exercise and on two competencies (problem solving and coping with pressure).
• White candidates also performed significantly better than all ethnic groups apart from Mixed in the written exercise, the group exercise and on one competency (problem solving)

2011

The variations observed were that there were no significant differences between White and Mixed, Chinese or other candidates on some exercises and competencies.

Round 1

• White candidates performed significantly better than all other groups except mixed on SC total score.
• There were no significant differences between White and Mixed or Chinese candidates for the three simulation exercises (A, B and C) and the written exercise.
• White candidates performed significantly better than all other ethnic groups except Chinese and Other candidates on all competencies.

Round 2

• White candidates performed significantly better than all ethnic groups apart from Chinese on SC total score.
• White candidates performed significantly better than Black and Asian candidates only for two of the simulations (B and C) and the written exercise.
• There were no significant differences between White and other candidates on the all competencies and no significant differences between White and Chinese candidates on three of them (emotionals sensitivity, communication skills and conceptual thinking and problem solving).

Place of medical qualification

Since 2007, the proportion of UK-trained candidates attending the SC has been much larger than the proportion of non-UK-trained candidates.

Consistently, UK-trained candidates perform significantly better than non-UK-trained candidates on SC total scores, all exercises and competencies. In addition, the proportion of UK-trained candidates successful at the SC has been significantly higher than the proportion of successful non-UK-trained candidates; there has been no variation to either of these patterns since 2007.

• The proportion of candidates training in the different regions was similar across the five years of reports analysed. The majority were UK-qualified (56.2-65.6%) followed by candidates qualified in Asia (21.9-31.2%), then those qualified in Africa (4-6.7%) or Europe (5-6.5%), with the smallest proportion of candidates qualified in other regions (0.8-1.9%).
• The proportion of UK-qualified candidates has increased yearly since 2007 (with the exception of 2009 where this figure decreased slightly) and after an increase in 2008, the proportion of candidates qualified in Asia has decreased.
• The proportion of candidates qualified in Europe was at its lowest in 2011 and the proportion of candidates qualified in Africa at its highest in 2011, with small variations over the years.
• Since 2008 the proportion of candidates qualified in other regions has decreased slightly.
• The percentage of non-UK trained candidates successful at the SC increased every year between 2007 and 2010 (range 32.7-52%); this decreased slightly in 2011 to 49% of non-UK trained candidates successful at SC.
• Since 2007, candidates trained in Asia have performed consistently worse than candidates trained in UK, Europe (excl. UK) and Africa on SC total scores and the simulation exercise.
• Candidates trained in Asia also performed worse than candidates trained in these other regions on a number of the competencies, ranging from 2 of the competencies in 2007 to all of the competencies in 2011.
• In 2011 there was a decrease in the number of successful UK-trained candidates across all ethnic groups and an increase in the number of non-UK-trained Chinese, Mixed and other candidates.
• Additional analysis as part of the 2011 report indicated that place of medical qualification independently explained the greatest amount of variance in SC total scores. Additional variance explained by ethnicity and gender was small (>1.5 % for ethnicity and > 2% for gender).

Foundation Programme attendance

Since 2009 when analysis of scores based on Foundation Programme (FP) attendance was conducted, there have been greater proportions of candidates who have attended an FP compared with those who had not, attending the SC.

Consistently candidates who had attended an FP performed significantly better on SC total scores, all exercises and competencies. Since 2009, the proportion of successful candidates has been significantly higher for those who had attended an FP than for those who had not.

Length of time since qualification

Data concerned with the length of time since a candidate had achieved their primary medical qualification was only analysed in 2011 so a comparison with previous years is not possible. In 2011, the length of time since qualification accounted for more of the variation in scores than age for Round 1.

English Language proficiency

Data regarding candidates’ English language proficiency was only analysed in 2011 so a comparison with previous years is not possible. In 2011, candidates who received an undergraduate degree taught in English performed significantly better on SC total scores, all exercises and competencies, than candidate’s whose English language proficiency was indicated by their achievement of the minimum score on the IELTS or any ‘Other’ measure.