Out of Programme

OOP (Out of Programme) is a general term for any time you spend outside your training rotation. OOP can range from maternity/paternity leave to research, but does not include annual leave and short term sick leave as that is included in your training time.

Time out of programme must be agreed upon by your Training Programme Director (TPD) and your Deanery/LETB; you should therefore discuss your plans with them as soon as possible.

You will keep your National Training Number (NTN) when on OOP.

If the time is counting towards training you will also need Specialty Advisory Committee (SAC) support, which needs to be issued before you start the period of OOP. Assessment of what was achieved whilst in the OOP should take place at the next ARCP meeting or when deemed appropriate by your Deanery/LETB - this is to ensure that the time has met approved training standards. The General Medical Council (GMC) will also need to prospectively approve time in OOP which is counting towards training.

Please note that the GMC will not issue approval retrospectively - see full guidance here.

SAC applications can take up to six weeks to be processed, so if you want the time to count towards training please make your application as soon as possible.

If your OOP is not counting towards training, please let us know about it as soon as possible, otherwise your certification date will not be amended to take this into consideration.

The OOP types are:


Type Counting towards training?
OOPT - Training Yes
OOPR - Research For certain specialities only - please see the OOPR section for details 
OOPE - Experience No
OOPC - Career Break No
Maternity / Paternity Leave No
Long Term Sick Leave No

Although OOPT and OOPR can be counted towards training, not all the time you spend on these may be counted. This is because:

  • There are restrictions on the maximum amount of OOP time you can count towards training – please see Gold Guide for further details
  • Your ARCP panel may not consider all the time you spent on OOP was of sufficient quality to be counted towards training

For an overview on how the JCST OOP process works please click here.