Core Revision
DGM Core Wisdom
Deep dives on the ideas the geriatric medicine diploma keeps coming back to. Not a summary of the syllabus — the handful of principles that change how you read a stem, and how you handle the patient in front of you.
Preparing for the CGM and DGM
Eleven pieces from the founders on the two-stage diploma: dates, fees and applications, the CGM written paper, the clinical exam in Liverpool, and whether it is worth it for your role. Free to read, no sign-in.
DGM 2027: the CGM written stage, the clinical exam, dates, fees and how to prepare
CGM on 24 February 2027 (apply 14 December–18 January), then the four-station DGM in Liverpool in June or November. Eligibility, format, fees and a two-stage plan.
- Dr David Palethorpe
- 5 min read
What changed for the DGM in 2027: the CGM, the new curriculum and what it means for revision
The written paper is now the CGM, the DGM is the clinical exam alone, and a new RCP curriculum applies from 1 January 2027. What it means for revision.
- Dr David Palethorpe
- 5 min read
The CGM exam: what the Certificate in Geriatric Medicine tests and how to prepare
200 best-of-five questions in four online papers on 24 February 2027, the January 2027 curriculum, exam day and how to prepare.
- Dr David Palethorpe
- 5 min read
8 weeks to the CGM: a realistic DGM revision plan for GPs with a full-time job
An eight-week plan built around five to seven hours a week: fourteen modules, timed 50-in-90 papers and the January application window in the middle of it.
- Dr Victoria Hammond
- 6 min read
How to apply for the CGM and DGM: Orzone, eligibility and deadlines, step by step
Two applications, months apart, both through Orzone. The CGM window of 14 December 2026 to 18 January 2027, the DGM windows and £668 fee, refunds and the slips that catch people.
- Dr Victoria Hammond
- 5 min read
The DGM clinical exam: the four stations and how they are marked
Station by station: who is in the room, what you do in 15 minutes, the domains each examiner grades, 2026–27 dates and how to prepare.
- Dr David Palethorpe
- 5 min read
Preparing for the DGM clinical exam: a six-week rehearsal plan
Four live stations are rehearsed, not revised. How to run a mock station with two colleagues, a six-week plan from CGM results to Liverpool, and the logistics.
- Dr Victoria Hammond
- 5 min read
Is the DGM worth it for GPs and GP trainees?
What the CGM and DGM test, where the diploma helps a GP or GP trainee’s career and where it does not, and what it costs in 2027.
- Dr David Palethorpe
- 5 min read
Is the DGM worth it for nurses and advanced nurse practitioners?
Nurses can sit the CGM and DGM. Who is eligible, what the two stages test, where the diploma helps a nurse or ANP, and where it does not.
- Dr David Palethorpe
- 4 min read
Is the DGM worth it for pharmacists?
Pharmacists can sit the CGM and DGM. Eligibility, how the curriculum covers polypharmacy and deprescribing, where the exam stretches you, and the verdict.
- Dr David Palethorpe
- 4 min read
Can international doctors and nurses sit the CGM and DGM?
The RCP opens the CGM to any regulated professional and the paper is sat worldwide; the DGM is in Liverpool. The rules for overseas-registered candidates.
- Dr David Palethorpe
- 5 min read
Principles that earn marks
Four ideas that do most of the work. Each is short, written for clinicians already seeing older patients, and aimed squarely at the reasoning the exam rewards.
Thinking like a geriatrician
Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment is the idea the exam returns to again and again — looking at an older person across medical, functional, psychological and social domains instead of chasing a single diagnosis.
- Dr David Palethorpe
- 1 min read
New confusion is delirium until proven otherwise
Acute confusion in an older person is delirium until you have excluded it. Writing it off as ‘just their dementia’ is the commonest and most dangerous shortcut, on the ward and in the paper.
- Dr David Palethorpe
- 1 min read
Prescribing in frailty: making STOPP/START a habit
Every medication review does two jobs — stopping what is harming and starting what is missing. STOPP/START turns that instinct into something systematic enough to earn marks.
- Dr David Palethorpe
- 1 min read
The OSCE is a consultation, not a viva
The clinical component rewards candidates who talk with a person rather than recite lists at an examiner. Structure, communication and safety are marked together, not separately.
- Dr David Palethorpe
- 1 min read
The exam and the law
Two longer pieces: what the two-stage CGM and DGM means for how you revise, and how to answer the capacity questions every paper asks.
The CGM comes first: what the two-stage exam means for revision
Geriatric medicine is now two credentials: the CGM written exam, then the DGM OSCE. What that changes about how you revise, pace and plan.
- Core Revision
- 4 min read
Capacity questions: apply the Act in order
Capacity stems read like clinical dilemmas. They are answered by applying the Mental Capacity Act one step at a time — and knowing who actually decides.
- Core Revision
- 6 min read
Where this sits
Core Wisdom is the thinking layer. The question bank drills it, the topic guides organise it, and Core Tools lets you rehearse the decisions themselves.
The rest of the DGM toolkit
Every part of the DGM track, one click away. Work across them rather than through them — the guide explains it, the tools drill the decision, the bank tests it and the Compass tells you what is left.