Fellowship by assessment of the Royal College of General Practitioners: improving patient care

Fellowship by Assessment of the Royal College of General Practitioners was first introduced in 1989. This followed the ‘What Sort of Doctor?’ initiative, which explored the potential for educationally‐based peer review visits to practices. Building on this work, college faculties — in particular those in the north‐west and south‐west of England — helped to design and pilot criteria that would be suitable for use as a measure of the highest quality of UK general practice.