The true skill and speciality of a General Practitioner is in how we communicate efficiently and empathically with patients to generate diagnoses and patient-centred management plans.
Developing these skills takes practice and experience, but also a good grounding in the theory and established research around “how to consult”. The Consultation Skills Course is designed to help trainees move from hopsital-style clerking to more nuanced and patient-centred style of consultation, to prepare trainees for both their MRCGP examinations, as well as their future careers.
ST2 Consultation Skills Course
The Consultation Skills Course usually takes place during the GP or ‘GP Plus’ post placement and runs along side the ST2 Education sessions at the education centre. The sessions are arranged and delivered by Dr Julian Tomkinson.
If you are an ST2 in a GP or GP+ post, you will be allocated to either the February or September start. The course is repeated each year so that everyone can attend.
If you are in your 2nd ST2 post and have not already attended the Consultation Skills Course, you should be included in the September 2025 cohort. If this is not the case, please turn up to the first session and email sebastian.pillon@nhs.net and lisa.diamond@boltonft.nhs.uk so they can double check the roster.
If you are in your first ST2 post and have not been invited, this is becuase you have been allocated to the February cohort and will do the course then. Please use the non-teaching Tuesday educational time for useful things instead!
Dates for September 2025 – January 2026 Cohort
- The first session for the September 2025 cohort will be at 1400 on 2nd September at the Horwich Health & Wellbeing Hub.
| 2nd Sept | 16th Sept | 30th Sept |
| 14th Oct | 28th Oct | 11th Nov |
| 25th Nov | 9th Dec | 13th Jan |
All sessions are held at Horwich Health & Wellbeing Hub from 1400-1630. Please bring a pen & paper.
Past sessions
TALC
Last Updated:
Page last reviewed: 25 July, 2025