All the training you wish to put forward must be contained within the seven years immediately preceding the date of application for a certificate of prescribed experience. So if you were applying for a certificate in 1997, the first of your SHO or GP registrar jobs should have been completed in 1990 or later. If not, they can submit evidence of their posts held abroad for consideration towards a certificate of equivalent experience. Special forms are available for hospital posts held in Europe. This should be done as early as possible and preferably long before the general practice component of their training.
Enquiries overseas can take weeks.
Enquiries about whether a post is approved for training should be addressed to the local director of postgraduate general practice education. Enquiries on partially completed training and the additional need for certification should be addressed to the Joint Committee. This is the term used in the European Directive which enables EU States to grant certain doctors the right to practise as GPs without the need for a certificate. Doctors who hold a recognised primary medical qualification awarded in an EEA State other than the UK and, were established in the United Kingdom on 31 December 1994 as a fully registered medical practitioner by virtue of that qualification, which is recognised by virtue of the Medical Directives. Guide To Certification'.