Trainee Hub – Consultation Skills and Exam Support for GP Training (SCA + AKT)
The GP Fluency Trainee Hub brings together topic-based learning (clinical knowledge + exam technique) and consultation skills resources to support GP training and preparation for the RCGP AKT and SCA.
Alongside core clinical content, we focus on a common learning need in GP consultations: eliciting, understanding and using psychosocial context to shape safe, patient-centred management plans. Scroll for monthly topic collections, quick reference guides, frameworks and links to further learning.
What you’ll find below: monthly clinical topics, consultation frameworks, exam-focused quick guides, AKT and WPBA support.
For trainees looking for more structured, interactive support, our GP communication skills courses offer in-depth teaching and small-group learning focused on real consultations and SCA-level practice.
February 2026 - What’s new?
Statistics Monthly Focus: Absolute vs Relative Risk
New Resources:
February Statistics Monthly Focus:
Absolute vs Relative Risk
This self-directed learning resource is designed to support clear, confident interpretation of statistics as tested in the AKT.
Work through the slides at your own pace — you can dip in and out, or complete it in one sitting.
The focus is on:
understanding how statistics are presented in AKT questions
recognising common traps and misinterpretations
applying statistical concepts to real GP-relevant scenarios
Once you’ve completed the learning, you can consolidate your understanding by completing the associated questions and downloading your certificate of completion for ePortfolio evidence.
Communication Skills
These resources focus on how consultations work in real general practice — supporting you to understand patients’ perspectives, manage complexity, and develop plans that fit the person in front of you. The emphasis is on practical consultation skills that can be used day-to-day, with awareness of how communication is assessed in GP training, including the SCA.
Let’s Talk About...Cholesterol (New for February)
“Let’s Talk About…”are practical resources to support GP trainees with common clinical and professional conversations in general practice.
Communication Skills and Clinical Resources
Clinical Resources
These resources are designed with real life general practice in mind - what you need to know, understand, do and share in clinical practice. With some consideration as to how your knowledge and skills in these areas are assessed in the AKT and SCA.
Cervical Cancer - New for February
Disordered Eating - New for February
This section brings together GP Fluency resources designed to support Workplace Based Assessment (WPBA) and ePortfolio use in GP training. The focus is on helping trainees understand what is expected in assessments and how everyday consultations and experiences can be used effectively as evidence.
WPBA & ePortfolio Support/Resources
Find the IMP
Understanding what matters — and using it to shape the plan
In GP consultations, it’s common to ask about work, home life, or stress — yet still feel unsure how this information should influence the plan. Find the IMP is a simple consultation scaffold used in GP Fluency resources to help trainees move from asking about context to using it meaningfully.
IMP stands for Impact, Meaning, and Priorities. It is not a consultation model or a script, but a flexible thinking aid that supports purposeful exploration of what the problem is doing to the patient’s life, what it represents for them, and what matters most right now.
Trainees use Find the IMP to:
understand how illness affects daily life and functioning
make sense of the patient’s perspective without losing clinical focus
clarify priorities in consultations with multiple issues or uncertainty
develop management plans that are realistic, negotiated, and patient-centred
Find the IMP is not about longer consultations or asking more questions. It helps you focus on the right questions — so your explanations land better and your plans fit the person in front of you.
For a fuller explanation of Find the IMP and how it fits into GP consultations and training, you can explore the core Find the IMP resource.
Breaking Bad News
Delivering difficult news is one of the most challenging tasks in general practice. Many models exist to help develop skills and approaches to do this in a way that allows doctors to deliver the bad news in way that it can be understood and digested by their patient.
Our quick guide starts with those that are well used “SPIKES”, “Ask -tell -ask”, and “Cambridge-Calgary” approaches. The second part of our guide goes into a bit more detail as it summarises a Psychological-Integrated Model for Breaking Bad News. It provides a structured, holistic & framework to guide GPs through these conversations, placing the patient’s experience, priorities, and wider life context at the centre of care.
This model helps clinicians:
Prepare and connect with the patient in a supportive way
Deliver information clearly and empathetically, using a “warning shot” to ease emotional processing
Explore the personal meaning of the news and acknowledge emotional responses
Understand the impact on home, work, family, and daily life
Identify what matters most to the patient right now
Co-create a personalised plan that integrates clinical management with psychosocial and practical considerations
Designed for UK general practice, this approach builds on traditional frameworks by explicitly incorporating patient priorities and the real-world impact of diagnosis, enabling clinicians to provide compassionate, tailored care.
Using these skills, working out which structures, work for you and your patients when breaking bad news and explaining next steps is key
Cases for you to use with peers/educators to practice and improve those skills: