Background and Acknowledgements

We are delighted to present this updated version of the Irish College of GPs Curriculum for GP Training in Ireland for 2026. This edition represents a progression, building on the strengths of previous versions while reflecting the evolving needs of patients, communities, and the profession. 

The updates you will find here are the product of extensive collaboration and consultation across our training community; Irish College of GPs leadership, Clinical leads, Scheme directors, Trainers, Trainees, patient representatives, international advisors and Subject Matter experts, whose insights have shaped both the content and structure of this curriculum. Many of the enhancements, from clearer constructive alignment between professional standards and assessment, to expanded sections on equity, diversity, and the development of emerging areas such as medical technology and artificial intelligence, have been directly requested by those working at the core of GP training. 

This curriculum continues the legacy of earlier editions, particularly the foundational work of the 2006 and 2016 versions (under the leadership of Dr Niamh O Carroll), and the refinements introduced in 2020 (under the leadership of Dr Brian McEllistrem). It benefits from the dedication of many who have contributed their time, expertise, and lived experience of general practice in Ireland. To all those involved, past and present, we would like to extend our sincere thanks. 
One of the most significant enhancements in this edition is the transition to a professional standard statements on a fully online platform, a change designed to transform the way the curriculum is accessed and used by both learners and educators. It is hoped this enhancement offers greater interactivity, clear programme-level learning outcomes, easier navigation, and seamless integration of hyperlinks, multimedia resources, and real-time updates. This shift not only improves usability, allowing users to quickly locate and engage with relevant content, but also ensures that the material remains dynamic and responsive to evolving medical evidence, educational practice, and the needs of general practice in Ireland.
 
To our trainees: We trust you will find this curriculum an essential guide and companion throughout your training journey. To our trainers and educators: We hope it continues to support and inspire your vital work in shaping the next generation of GPs. And to the wider public: this curriculum represents our commitment to training doctors who are not only clinically skilled but also compassionate, reflective, and responsive to the needs of all they serve. 

As always, your feedback is welcome. The document’s continued evolution depends on your engagement and ideas. Please see the feedback form if you have suggestions for further improvement.

Prof Robert Scully
Curriculum Development Lead (2022 - 2025)

Dr Padraic McCarthy
Curriculum Development Fellow (2024 - 2026)

General practice is the cornerstone of healthcare in Ireland, providing accessible, continuous, and person-centred care for individuals, families, and communities. The role of the General Practitioner (GP) is broad and complex encompassing the prevention, diagnosis, and management of illness; the promotion of health and wellbeing; and the navigation of social, cultural, and systemic factors that influence health outcomes. 

This curriculum sets out the knowledge, skills, and professional behaviours required of  a GP in Ireland. It reflects the evolving nature of primary care, the expectations of patients and society, and the professional standards set by the Irish Medical Council and international frameworks such as WONCA (World Organization of Family Doctors). 

The curriculum is designed to: 

• Provide clear Professional Standards for each area of GP training.
• Constructively align teaching, learning, and assessment , ensuring that what is taught, how it is learned, and how it is assessed are connected and coherent for the learner and educator.
• Support lifelong learning, encouraging reflective practice, adaptability, and ongoing professional development. 

Trainees will engage with the curriculum through a combination of workplace-based learning, structured teaching, self-directed study, and blended learning modules.  

The curriculum is intended not only as a guide for trainees and trainers but also as a statement of the values and competencies that define general practice in Ireland. By the end of training, graduates will be equipped to practise independently, safely, and compassionately, contributing to the health and wellbeing of their patients and communities. 

Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) are used to conduct workplace-based assessment.
Each EPA represents a real-world, integrated clinical task General Practitioners perform on a regular basis, and is used to assess how a trainee performs in the workplace, based on direct and indirect observation of actual clinical encounters. 

EPA assessments provide contextualised entrustment judgements on how the trainee performed during a clinical activity, viewed through the lens of one or more selected professional competencies.   

Structured feedback is recorded using one of three EPA-aligned WBA tools, each designed to suit distinct types of clinical supervision and activity. Two of these tools use the following six core professional competencies, drawn from the WONCA framework: 

1. Person-centred care
2. Community orientation
3. Specific problem-solving skills
4. Comprehensive approach
5. Primary care management
6. Holistic modelling 

These competencies reflect the complex, integrative nature of General Practice and are applied in most EPA assessments. 

The third WBA tool is used specifically to assess observed procedural skills or physical examinations. It focuses on a distinct set of four technical and interactional competencies: 

1. Choice of procedure
2. Communication with the patient
3. Technical skills
4. Interpretation of findings.
    

These competencies address the core skills required to carry out safe, appropriate, and patient-centred examinations or procedures in everyday clinical settings. 

Together, these two complementary sets of competencies ensure that EPA feedback is tailored to the type of clinical task being assessed, while supporting a holistic view of trainee capability.  
These competencies reflect how clinical tasks are carried out and are essential for developing readiness for independent practice.  

Curriculum–EPA Alignment 

Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) are the foundation of assessment in this competency-based medical education (CBME) programme. They define the key clinical tasks that you must be trusted to perform safely and independently.

The curriculum helps you reach that point by outlining the professional standards, clinical content, and learning opportunities needed to develop competence. Clinical and non-clinical chapters build the foundational knowledge, clinical reasoning, and professional behaviours required for EPA performance. 

EPA assessments focus on how you perform in real clinical settings, providing structured feedback on key professional competencies. Not every curriculum professional standard statement is directly assessed through EPAs, but all chapters contribute to your readiness for entrustment.

Together, the curriculum and EPA assessments and competency-based feedback form a coherent, flexible, and authentic framework for preparing you for independent clinical practice. 

How the updated curriculum will be presented 

Refinement of learning outcomes: The 2020 curriculum contained approximately 1,700 learning outcomes. Following an extensive iterative process of consultation and review, these have been consolidated into around 500 higher-level Professional Standards Statements. These statements reflect three key principles:

1.  A GP training curriculum should emphasise the professional standards expected of trainees  
2.  GP education is a lifelong process that will continue to evolve well beyond the completion of training
3. Increasingly GP trainees are self-regulated learners who come from a variety of personal and professional backgrounds High-level professional standards are best placed to guide this heterogenous group, whilst also aligning with best international practice. 
    

Online Access: The updated curriculum is now available online, allowing it to be updated, searched and reviewed on any device.

Coding Nomenclature: To aid navigation, we have simplified the coding system so that each statement is identified by its chapter and number.

What new content is in the updated curriculum?

Removal of case vignettes and reflective questions: In an effort to debulk the curriculum document we have removed the case vignettes and reflective questions.

New Chapters: New chapters have been added on Leadership, Traveller Health, Haematology, AI and Medical Technology. Haematology was identified early in the curriculum development process as an area that should have its own dedicated chapter. AI and Medical Technology has been added in response to a need identified through the National Trainee Survey. Leadership and Traveller Health were developed in response to feedback received during the soft launch phase of the curriculum project. 

The previous "Non-Clinical Chapters" have been renamed "Core Concepts Supporting Effective General Practice", reflecting the inherently clinical nature of topics such as communication, patient safety and practice management. 

Renaming of existing chapters: We have updated and renamed some chapters from previous versions to create a more consistent naming structure.

Constructive Alignment: Examples have been included to demonstrate how the curriculum can be learned and how it is assessed.

Common and Important Conditions: Each chapter now contains an indicative list of relevant conditions to help guide and focus learning. (this list is not exhaustive – other relevant conditions may be encountered during training or assessed by the examinations team).  

Signs Symptoms and Presentations: Each chapter contains an indicative list of signs, symptoms and presentations to further support self-regulated learning.  (this list is not exhaustive – other relevant signs symptoms and presentations may be encountered during training or assessed by the examinations team). 

Updated Resources: The lists of useful websites and recommended reading have been refreshed to support ongoing study.  Wherever possible, linked resources are externally peer-reviewed and updated, ensuring high-quality evidence guides the trainee.

What processes have informed the updated curriculum?

Curriculum Committee: A dedicated Curriculum Committee, with representation from across the training community and including a patient representative was established to oversee the curriculum review.  This committee reports to the GP Training Academic Council.

Review & Audit Process: Recognising that GP is constantly evolving, a 5 –yearly curriculum review and audit cycle has been established to ensure continuous improvement.

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Review: The curriculum went through an EDI review process to ensure its alignment with the College’s values.

Mapped to IMC Professionalism Standards and WONCA Domains: The new professional standard statements are mapped to the WONCA Competencies AND the Irish Medical Council Professionalism standards. This latter step is additional quality improvement measure applied to the updated curriculum to ensure our curriculum reflects our regulators standards. 

• Dr Aisling Farrell - General Practitioner with Special Interest in Lifestyle Medicine
• Ms Aisling Kearney - Public & Patient Representative
• Dr Andrea Fitzgerald - Irish College of GPs Paediatric Sepsis Clinical Lead
• Dr Andree Rochfort - Director ICGP Quality Improvement & Doctors Health Programme
• Dr Anil Sood - Royal College of General Practitioners Medical Director of Curriculum
• Dr Aoife O’Sullivan - Irish College of GPs Mental Health Clinical Lead
• Dr Austin O’Carroll - Scheme Director North Dublin City GP Training Scheme
• Dr Bernard Kenny - Irish College of GPs Director of Addiction Management Primary Care
• Dr Brendan O’Shea - Assistant Adjuvant Professor in Primary Care and Public Health at Trinity College Dublin
• Dr Brendan O'Keeffe - Public & Patient Representative
• Dr Christina Warren - General Practitioner with a Special Interest in ENT
• Dr Ciara McCarthy - Irish College of GPs Women’s Health Clinical Lead
• Dr Cliona De Bhailis - Professor of Disability Law in University of Galway
• Dr Conall Heuston - Haematology Specialist Registrar
• Ms Dolores Kavanagh - HR Manager GP Trainining Irish College of GPs
• Dr Eamonn O’Shea - Irish College of GPs Cardiovascular Clinical Lead
• Dr Edward O’Sullivan - General Practitioner with a Special Interest in Neurology and Headache
• Dr Edel Doorley - Scheme Director Midlands GP Training Scheme
• Dr Ellen Hayes - Irish College of GPs Adult Sepsis Clinical Lead
• Dr Emer O’Brien - Irish College of GPs Quality & Safety in Practice Clinical Lead
• Dr Emma Kenefick - General Practitioner & Medical Ophthalmologist
• Dr Gavin Keane - General Practitioner with a Special Interest in Men’s Health
• Dr Finn Krewer - Lecturer in Applied Clinical Data Analytics in University of Galway
• Dr Fintan Stanley - Irish College of GPs Data Analyst
• Dr Fiona O'Riordan - GP Trainee
• Dr Gobnait Kearney - Retired General Practitioner & GP Trainer
• Ms Grainne McBrearty - Irish College of GPs Digital Communications Coordinator
• Dr James O’Flynn - General Practitioner (Cork); Contributor to the Genetic Health Chapter
• Dr John O’Riordan - General Practitioner and Sports and Exercise Medicine Specialist
• Dr Justin Kwong - General Practitioner with Special Interest in Community & Minor Surgery
• Dr Kesree Finnegan - General Practitioner with Special Interest in Renal and Chronic Disease Management
• Dr Kevin Maxwell - General Practitioner (Cork); Contributor to the Haematological Health Chapter
• Dr Laura Cullen - Irish College of GPs Director of Women’s Health
• Dr Lisa Devine - Irish College of GPs Diabetes Clinical Lead
• Ms Lynsey Kavanagh - Co Director Pavee Point Traveller and Roma Centre
• Dr Mary Favier - General Practitioner & Former President of the Irish College of GPs
• Dr Méabh Ní Bhroin - Irish College of GPs Regional Programme Director South Dublin Leinster
• Dr Michael Crotty - Irish College of GPs Obesity Clinical Lead
• Ms Niamh Killeen - Irish College of GPs Head of IT
• Dr Niamh O’Brien - General Practitioner (Galway); Contributor to the Care of People with Disabilities Chapter
• Dr Orlaith Kearney - Member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists
• Dr Paul Nolan - Irish College of GPs ePrescribing Clinical Lead
• Dr Paul Ryan - Irish College of GPs Therapeutics Clinical Lead and Assistant Scheme Director Cork GP Training Scheme
• Dr Scott Walkin - Irish College of GPs Antimicrobial Resistance & Infection Control Clinical Lead & Assistant Scheme Director Sligo GP Training Scheme
• Dr Shane McKeogh - Irish College of GPs Adult Respiratory Clinical Lead
• Dr Siobhan Twohig - General Practitioner with Special Interest in Dermatology
• Dr Stephen Brennan - Irish College of GPs Assistant Scheme Director Sout East GP Training Scheme
• Ms Susan McHugh - Irish College of GPs Instructional Designer
• Prof Tadhg Crowley - IMO GP Committee Chair
• Dr Ronan Sharkey - GP Trainer

Curriculum Committee

• Dr Cathy Cullen - National Director of GP Training
• Dr Katherine Murray - Deputy National Director of GP Training
• Mr Brian O'Malley - Executive Director of Training & Assessment
• Ms Martina McDonnell - Deputy Executive Director for GP Training
• Dr Sheila Rochford - Former Scheme Director Cork GP Training Scheme
• Dr Magdalaena Hall - Assistant Scheme Director Dongegal
• Dr Peter Kelly - National GP Trainer Liaison Lead
• Dr Edward McSwiney - Regional Programme Director South
• Dr Maureen Kelly - Professor of Primary Care Education, Head of Discipline of General Practice, School of Medicine, NUIG
• Dr Chloe Breen - Trainee Representative
• Ms Taimse Tracey - Deputy Executive Director of Assessment
• Ms Patricia Patton - Information Services Officer
• Mr John Wall - Patient Representative
• Mr Morgan Danaher - Regional Programme Coordinator - Dublin South Leinster
• Dr Padraic McCarthy - Curriculum Development Fellow
• Professor Robert Scully - Curriculum Lead