26 June 2025
We are deeply upset and concerned to hear about the technical issues that disrupted the Specialty Certificate Examination (SCE) in Rheumatology yesterday. We know how much time, energy, and personal sacrifice trainees invest in preparing for this exam, and we know how distressing and disheartening this experience must have been for many of you.
We understand that this is a significant disruption to your professional journey. As your professional body, we want to acknowledge both the seriousness of the situation and the emotional impact it may be having - not only on our members, but across the wider community of rheumatology specialty trainees. We are here to support you and are committed to representing your concerns.
We are already in contact with the Federation of Royal Colleges to understand what went wrong and to make sure this is addressed properly. We will follow up with the Federation as soon as we have more clarity, and we will push for solutions that are fair, transparent, and supportive of all those affected.
To help us understand the scale of the issue and advocate effectively on your behalf, we are asking any trainee who experienced problems during the exam to get in touch with us directly by email at , please include 'SCE Exam' in the subject line. You can also contact your local BSR regional trainee representative. Hearing your experiences is vital in making sure we ask the right questions and take the right actions.
We also want to acknowledge the effect this may be having on your wellbeing and want to reiterate that we are here to support you. If you are struggling, we encourage you to speak with your educational supervisor or training programme director to access local support.
There are also national services available for additional wellbeing support, including:
Thank you to everyone who has already shared their experiences with us. Everyone at BSR is committed to doing everything we can to support you.