New opportunities for higher specialty training in general internal medicine and stroke medicine

The UK has a considerable unmet need for consultants providing care for patients with stroke and this has provided an excellent new training opportunity. In an attempt to address the workforce issue, a pilot programme for single accreditation in general internal medicine coupled to sub-specialty stroke medicine is starting in the second round of 2024 recruitment. Training comprises two years of GIM and a year of stroke medicine. This would mean successful applicants could go from completion of Internal Medicine Stage 1 to completing training (CCT) after a further three years of training.

The pilot will last for two rounds of recruitment before a decision on whether it will continue in the summer of 2025. More information about the programme and the recruitment process can be found on the stroke medicine/GIM pages. It can be confirmed that in the second round of 2024 there will only programmes available in England; the regions participating and indicative post numbers are being confirmed, and will be published just ahead of the application opening date of 23 July.

In addition to this pilot programme, there are two further ways to enter training in general internal medicine: 

• Standalone general internal medicine training – a three year programme which focusses on GIM.
• Dual accreditation with Group 1 specialties – all Group 1 physician specialties lead to dual accreditation with general internal medicine. Each specialty has its own page with a summary about the specialty and information about the recruitment process which is specific to that specialty.