The Southgate Review
Response to Dame Lesley Southgate's Review of the Part 1 MFPH examination
30 May 2006
Just over three years ago the Faculty commissioned an external expert on examinations to look at both the Part 1 and Part 2 MFPH examinations. At the time Part 1 was seen as satisfactory and the main attention was directed to Part 2 which was deemed no longer fit for purpose.
Since that first review a great deal has changed. In particular PMETB has been created and taken up its statutory duties. This has led to considerable development of the principles and theory that must be considered in professional exams.
The Faculty of Public Health commissioned a second review of the MFPH Part 1/Part A examination in direct response to an incident which occurred at the June 2005 sitting.
At the time we decided that we should take the opportunity to have a comprehensive external review of the entire exam rather than simply consider the narrow question as to what went wrong in that particular exam. We asked Dame Lesley Southgate, one of the experts who has led the changes at PMETB, to carry out this complete review.
Inevitably such a review takes time, but I am delighted that it has now been discussed by the Board of the Faculty and can be published.
Some of the recommendations demanded immediate action and this has been taken. Other recommendations require considerable work and, in some cases, deeper research to find the most satisfactory way forward.
The report from the Academic Registrar sets out the action taken on each recommendation, dealing first with the recommendations that address immediate threats followed by those that require action over a longer period.
The Southgate Report [pdf]