Demonstrate capability—not hours completed
UUC is about showing that you can assess and manage urgent problems safely across different primary-care contexts. The RCGP does not prescribe a fixed number of hours or log entries.
In Wessex, use the evidence grid to show breadth across remote assessment, face-to-face work and home visiting. Review gaps with your supervisor well before final ARCP.
Keep the national rule and the Wessex process separate
Demonstrate UUC capability by CCT
There is no curriculum requirement for a fixed number of hours or entries, and work for a traditional OOH provider is not the only possible source of evidence nationally. Your ES must be satisfied that the capability has been demonstrated.
Use the grid and include OOH experience
Wessex asks trainees to demonstrate breadth across settings and consultation types, including UUC in an OOH setting away from the usual training practice. The pattern of evidence matters; the grid is not a points score.
Explore the Wessex UUC evidence grid
Open any cell to see what the combination means, examples that may provide evidence and what makes an entry useful. Examples are illustrations, not automatic approval for ARCP.
In your training practice
Normal primary-care records are available, patients may be known to the team, and full daytime services are usually accessible.
RemoteTelephone or remote assessmentView detailsHide details
What this means
Assessing an urgent problem without examining the patient, then deciding who can stay remote, who needs face-to-face review and who needs immediate escalation.
Experience that may provide evidence
- Duty-doctor telephone triage
- Same-day urgent telephone consultations
- Assessing deterioration or an urgent result remotely
What makes the evidence stronger
- Prioritisation and risk assessment
- Recognising the limits of remote assessment
- Clear escalation and safety-netting
- Increasing independence
How you could record it
Use a CCR or suitable WPBA to show the decision-making, level of supervision and what happened after your initial plan.
Face-to-faceFace-to-faceView detailsHide details
What this means
Assessing and managing a same-day urgent presentation in the practice, including the decision to treat, observe, review or escalate.
Experience that may provide evidence
- Acute breathlessness or chest pain
- An acutely unwell patient
- An urgent mental-health presentation
- A case requiring same-day secondary-care escalation
What makes the evidence stronger
- Focused assessment under time pressure
- Management of diagnostic uncertainty
- Initial treatment and escalation decisions
- Specific safety-netting
How you could record it
A CCR, COT or CbD can work well when it makes your reasoning and the urgency of the decisions visible.
Home visitHome visitingView detailsHide details
What this means
Providing urgent assessment in a patient’s home or care home, where examination, equipment, records and immediate support may be more limited.
Experience that may provide evidence
- Urgent home or care-home visits
- Frailty and acute deterioration
- Palliative or end-of-life care
- Capacity or risk assessment in the home
What makes the evidence stronger
- Planning before leaving the practice
- Managing risk with limited resources
- Working with carers and community services
- A clear disposition and follow-up plan
How you could record it
Record what was different about making the decision in the home and how you used, or worked around, the resources available.
Outside your training practice
This is another primary-care or urgent-care environment. Records may be available, while staffing and services can vary with the setting and time of day.
RemoteTelephone or remote assessmentView detailsHide details
What this means
Urgent remote assessment performed in another appropriately supervised primary-care service rather than your usual training practice.
Experience that may provide evidence
- Telephone triage in another primary-care urgent service
- An extended-access or urgent-care service
- An appropriately supervised session at another GP practice
What makes the evidence stronger
- Adapting to an unfamiliar service
- Understanding what records and pathways are available
- Safe handover and continuity
- Appropriate supervision
How you could record it
State the service, time of day, records available, supervision level and what made the work different from normal in-hours triage.
Face-to-faceFace-to-faceView detailsHide details
What this means
Seeing urgent primary-care presentations in a service outside your normal practice, with its own referral routes, staffing and access to investigations.
Experience that may provide evidence
- Urgent treatment centre
- Primary-care urgent clinic
- Extended-access service
- A supervised urgent clinic at another GP practice
What makes the evidence stronger
- Working safely in an unfamiliar system
- Knowing local escalation routes
- Using investigations appropriately
- Communicating the plan back to the usual team
How you could record it
Describe the clinical role you performed; attendance or observation alone does not show the same capability as assessing and managing patients.
Home visitHome visitingView detailsHide details
What this means
Urgent visiting undertaken through a service other than your normal training practice, with appropriate induction and supervision.
Experience that may provide evidence
- A PCN home-visiting service
- Cross-practice urgent visiting
- Suitable visiting work with an urgent-care team
- Supervised care-home visits outside your usual practice
What makes the evidence stronger
- A clearly defined clinical role
- Appropriate supervision and governance arrangements
- Communication across practice boundaries
- Safe use of visiting services
How you could record it
Record what you did yourself, who supervised you, which records were available and how responsibility and follow-up were handed over.
In an out-of-hours setting
Normal records and services may be limited. Decisions may be made with less immediate support and fewer options than during the normal working day.
RemoteTelephone or remote assessmentView detailsHide details
What this means
Telephone or video assessment within an out-of-hours primary-care service, where the immediate task is often triage, risk management and directing the patient to the safest next step.
Experience that may provide evidence
- OOH primary-care telephone assessment
- OOH triage with an approved clinical supervisor
What makes the evidence stronger
- Safe prioritisation with limited records
- Clear thresholds for face-to-face review or ambulance response
- Use of OOH pathways
- Effective safety-netting
How you could record it
Complete the session form where appropriate and use a CCR or Audio-COT when there is useful learning or assessable consultation evidence.
Face-to-faceFace-to-faceView detailsHide details
What this means
Assessing patients in an evening, overnight or weekend primary-care setting with the staffing and services available at that time.
Experience that may provide evidence
- Weekend or evening OOH primary-care clinic
- A formal OOH GP provider
- Another appropriately supervised primary-care OOH setting
What makes the evidence stronger
- Independent assessment with appropriate support
- Decisions made with reduced service availability
- Safe prescribing and escalation
- Accurate handover to in-hours care
How you could record it
Record the supervision level and a representative range of decisions rather than treating the session form as proof of capability on its own.
Home visitHome visitingView detailsHide details
What this means
Urgent visiting through an out-of-hours service, often with limited records and remote access to the supervising clinician.
Experience that may provide evidence
- OOH GP visiting service
- Other suitable supervised OOH home-visiting work
What makes the evidence stronger
- Preparation and personal safety
- Working with limited information and equipment
- Knowing when to call for support
- A safe plan for the rest of the night or weekend
How you could record it
Explain the constraints, what you assessed and decided, and how supervision, transport, escalation and handover worked.
- Find the strongest evidence you already have in session forms, CCRs, WPBAs and supervisor feedback.
- Map each item to the relevant setting and consultation type rather than trying to make every entry cover everything.
- Use the empty or weak areas to identify genuine gaps and agree how to address them with your ES.
- Upload the completed grid with the supporting documents where appropriate for your portfolio.
- Present the evidence clearly enough that your ES can assess its quality, breadth, progression and level of independence.
You can complete the grid in stages rather than sitting with your ES to fill in every box. The useful final product is a clear map to the supporting evidence, ready for your ES to review.
What actually counts as evidence?
Attendance is useful context, but capability is shown by what you did, how you made decisions and how your practice developed.
Session feedback form
Primarily records the type of UUC work, the setting, the agreed supervision level, the supervisor’s feedback or concerns, and how your performance is progressing. Several forms can show consistency and development over time.
Clinical Case Review
Useful when a case changed your thinking or provides clear evidence of reasoning, risk assessment and reflection.
COT, Audio-COT or CbD
Can provide assessed evidence where the assessor is appropriately trained to use that WPBA tool.
Supervisor feedback
Helps show how much support you needed and whether you are progressing towards safe independent practice.
Evidence grid or summary
Makes the range and pattern of your strongest evidence easy for your ES and ARCP panel to understand.
Show what you did and why
- What you assessed and managed yourself
- The clinical reasoning behind the plan
- How you identified and managed risk
- Treatment, escalation and admission decisions
- The safety-netting and follow-up arranged
- Which services, records and investigations were available
- The level of supervision and when you asked for help
- What you learned and how your independence is developing
Build the evidence before ST3 becomes too busy
Work out how to demonstrate breadth
Use supervised cases, placements and observational opportunities to understand the breadth of UUC and OOH capability you will need to demonstrate. Treat this as preparation and gap-finding rather than assuming early entries will satisfy your final ST3 ARCP.
Identify gaps before ST3
Review the grid with your supervisor and identify which consultation types or settings may be difficult to access. Make a practical plan so that home visiting, remote work or OOH experience is not left until the final months of training.
Build your final ARCP evidence
Collect current ST3 evidence across the required settings and consultation types, show increasing independence and present it clearly for your ES. Do not rely on ST1 or ST2 entries for the final ST3 ARCP unless your ES or TPD confirms that they fall within the relevant review period.
For the final ST3 ARCP, prioritise evidence produced during ST3 and within the current ARCP review period. Earlier experience is useful for learning and planning, but do not assume ST1 or ST2 entries will satisfy the final review unless your ES or TPD confirms this.
How independent do I need to be?
Increasing independence does not mean never asking for help. It means making sound initial judgements, recognising the limits of the situation and using support deliberately.
- Assess and prioritise urgent presentations safely
- Make a reasonable management plan despite uncertainty
- Recognise when records, examination or local services are limited
- Escalate promptly and use other services appropriately
- Work with less immediate support as experience grows
- Give specific safety-netting and arrange continuity or handover
- Recognise when advice or direct supervisor input is still needed
You may discuss more cases before finalising the plan and work with direct or near supervision while you learn the service, systems and thresholds for escalation.
You should increasingly form and carry out your own safe plan, with an agreed supervisor available and help sought promptly when the clinical risk, uncertainty or limits of the setting require it.
I cannot get a particular type of experience
How to record UUC without creating unnecessary work
Before the session
Know which setting, consultation type or capability you are trying to develop. Confirm induction, your supervision level and how feedback will be recorded.
During the session
Notice the decisions that were different because of the time, setting, records, services or supervision. Keep patient information out of personal notes.
After the session
Complete the official feedback form with the supervisor where the guidance expects this. It should record the work, supervision, feedback, concerns and progression rather than become an artificial reflection exercise.
Record useful learning
Add a CCR or suitable WPBA only when a case, decision, feedback point or assessment provides meaningful evidence. You do not need to manufacture a reflection for every session.
Update the overview
Add the evidence to the grid or summary and review remaining gaps periodically with your ES.
Wessex practicalities
If you only observe and provide no clinical care, Wessex treats the session as educational time. It can help you understand how the service works, but it is not evidence that you can manage patients independently.
Direct, near and remote supervision all involve clinical work when you take responsibility for patient contact. Supervision should match your experience and be agreed at the start of the shift.
The current Wessex GP training page says OOH work during a GP placement attracts time off in lieu, normally taken within a week. The linked policy asks trainees to show signed session forms and give the practice reasonable notice.
This can provide relevant UUC evidence. If a session is at your usual training practice and you intend to use it for the specific Wessex expectation of OOH experience away from that practice, confirm this with your ES or TPD before relying on it.
Quick answers to the usual uncertainties
Do I need 72 hours, 50 hours or another fixed number?
No fixed number of hours or log entries is prescribed by the RCGP curriculum. Wessex’s currently linked guidance is also capability-based. A contractual rule in another area can still apply, so trainees outside Wessex should check their own programme.
Do I have to work for a traditional OOH provider?
Not as a national curriculum rule. The RCGP says an OOH provider is not the only route to capability. Wessex, however, asks trainees to demonstrate UUC capability in out-of-hours settings away from their usual training practice, so local expectations still matter.
Does ST1 or ST2 evidence count?
Use ST1 and ST2 to understand the breadth of UUC, identify gaps and plan suitable experience. For the final ST3 ARCP, prioritise current ST3 evidence from the relevant review period. Do not rely on older entries unless your ES or TPD confirms that they can be considered for that review.
Does duty-doctor work count?
It may provide strong evidence for urgent telephone or face-to-face work in the training-practice row. It does not automatically replace the Wessex expectation for evidence from an out-of-hours setting.
Does an urgent treatment centre count?
It may provide relevant evidence when the work is primary-care UUC, your role is clinical, and supervision and context are appropriate. Record what you actually did and agree with your ES how it fits the grid.
Does extended-access work count?
Extended-access work can provide relevant UUC evidence when it involves suitable urgent primary-care work and appropriate supervision. If the session takes place at your usual training practice and you intend to rely on it for the specific Wessex expectation of OOH experience away from that practice, confirm this with your ES or TPD before relying on it.
Does A&E work count?
Emergency-department experience can develop acute-care capabilities, but it is not automatically evidence of primary-care UUC or a substitute for Wessex OOH experience away from the training practice.
What if my practice no longer sends GPs on home visits?
Raise the gap early. Ask about a PCN visiting service, cross-practice arrangement or suitable supervised visiting through another urgent-care service. Confirm the proposed experience with your ES or TPD before relying on it.
Do I need every box filled?
The published Wessex grid does not simply ask for every box. It asks for evidence in at least two settings for each consultation type and at least two consultation types in an OOH setting. Capability, progression and the pattern of evidence still need to be judged by your ES.
Find the documents you need
These links go to the current official pages or files we found. Save your completed documents in the portfolio rather than relying on a local copy of this page.
RCGP UUC guidance
The national curriculum requirement and current advice on recording evidence.
Open official resource NHS England — Wessex · PDFWessex UUC policy
The locally linked policy, including supervision, TOIL and the evidence-grid pattern. Updated February 2021.
Open official resource NHS England — Wessex · DOCXWessex evidence grid
The official UUC Evidence for ARCP document listed on the Mid-Wessex resources page.
Open official resource RCGP · DOCXUUC / OOH session feedback form
The current session record linked from the RCGP UUC guidance page.
Open official resourceChecked 27 Sept 2026
- Urgent and unscheduled care training guidanceRCGP ↗
- Urgent and unscheduled care curriculum topic guideRCGP · document dated 1 Aug 2025 ↗
- WPBA Learning Log guidanceRCGP ↗
- Urgent and Unscheduled Care Policy (Primary Care)NHS England — Thames Valley and Wessex · document dated 1 Feb 2021 ↗
- FAQs for Urgent and Unscheduled Care including OOH trainingNHS England — Wessex · document dated 14 Nov 2019 ↗
- GP training information and current UUC policy linkNHS England — Wessex ↗
- Mid-Wessex GP resources: UUC forms and examplesNHS England — Wessex ↗