Establishing a new medical discipline in the United Kingdom must meet a series of criteria laid down by the European Medical Specialist Qualification Order, the General Medical Council, and the Specialist Training Authority (STA). Enthusiastic practitioners of sport and exercise medicine must meet the demands of these bodies before the National Health Service medical education unit will recommend that the secretary of state for health should amend schedule 2 of the Specialist Medical Order.

There is a reluctance in the STA to increase the number of specialties. Any proposal to support the recognition of sport and exercise medicine will need to be soundly based and closely argued, demonstrating that an identified need for the specialty can be met by appropriately trained doctors.

Postgraduate medical training in the United Kingdom is based on doctors spending one year as a preregistration house officer followed by a minimum of two years general professional/basic specialty training giving a breadth of experience before the doctor chooses a higher specialty training programme. These supervised programmes vary from a minimum of one year in general practice to four to six years in hospital based or community medicine specialties. Thereafter, the doctor applies to the STA for recognition that his/her training has been completed. This …