How to apply for the CGM and DGM: Orzone, eligibility and deadlines, step by step

Applying for the Diploma in Geriatric Medicine is two separate applications, months apart: first the Certificate in Geriatric Medicine (CGM), the written paper, and only after you have passed it, the DGM clinical exam. Both go through Orzone, the Royal College of Physicians’ online exam provider, and both have short windows that are easy to miss. Here is the process from start to finish, with every date as published on rcp.ac.uk on 11 October 2026.

Before you apply: the eligibility check

The CGM is open to any statutorily regulated healthcare professional who is currently registered, in good standing with their regulator and has no restrictions on practice. The RCP verifies registration and good standing itself; if it cannot, the application is withdrawn and the fee refunded in full. You also need at least two years’ post-qualification experience, including at least four months in a setting with a significant number of older people, where producing and implementing care plans for older people formed a large part of the work.

A few points from the RCP’s regulations for examination candidates (September 2024) are worth knowing before you start the form:

• Candidates registered outside the UK need a reference form from their educational supervisor or line manager.
• Anyone with warnings, conditions or undertakings on their registration must declare them by email, and may be admitted at the Senior Examiner’s discretion. A suspension bars entry until it is lifted.
• The RCP expects English ability roughly equivalent to IELTS 7.5, though no certificate is asked for.
• Reasonable adjustments must be requested in writing at the time of application, with supporting evidence, and are not carried forward from one attempt to the next.

Step by step: the CGM

1. Note the window. For the 2027 sitting the application period runs from Monday 14 December 2026 to Monday 18 January 2027, closing at 11am UK time. The exam is on Wednesday 24 February 2027 and results are released on Wednesday 31 March 2027. The RCP currently lists one sitting a year.
2. Wait for the button. The RCP says an application button appears on the CGM page when the period opens. Before then there is nothing to click; you can register on the same page for email reminders about application dates.
3. Create an Orzone account if you do not already have one. The application form is administered by Orzone, and you may need to set the account up before you can start.
4. Complete the form and pay. Payment is taken as part of the application. The regulations say fees are payable by credit or debit card only. The CGM fee for the 2027 sitting is £350.
5. If your employer is paying, email cgm@rcp.ac.uk before you apply rather than afterwards.
6. After the window closes, eligible candidates are emailed the proctoring software download instructions, unique login details and the pre-exam requirements, including face identification calibration. Do these when they arrive. The regulations describe remote monitoring by facial recognition, device monitoring and keystroke analysis, with the webcam on throughout, so a laptop that behaves is part of your preparation.

Step by step: the DGM clinical exam

1. Pass the CGM first. Eligibility for the DGM is a CGM pass plus the same registration conditions. You have four years from being notified of the CGM pass to pass the DGM; miss that and the written paper has to be retaken.
2. Pick a sitting. The clinical exam runs twice a year at the RCP Assessment Centre at The Spine in Liverpool. The June 2027 window is 30 March to 12 April 2027 for the exam on 1 to 4 June; the November 2027 window is 31 August to 13 September 2027 for 2 to 5 November. The RCP notes that additional dates in the same week may be added depending on numbers.
3. Apply through Orzone again, when the button appears, and pay the fee: £668 for each 2027 sitting (it was £642 for November 2026). Workplace payers email dgm@rcp.ac.uk first.
4. Wait for your admission document. Once applications close you are allocated a date, and an admission document confirming the exam date, report time and reporting address is emailed to you. You get one slot across the exam week, so plan travel after it arrives, not before.
5. Results come by email, by 5pm, on Wednesday 7 July 2027 for the June sitting and Wednesday 8 December 2027 for November.

Dates at a glance

Notice the gap between CGM results on 31 March and the June DGM deadline on 12 April: twelve days. If you want the June clinical exam, have your Orzone login and a free afternoon ready for the first week of April.

Attempts, withdrawals and refunds

You may attempt each component a maximum of six times, and the RCP counts failed attempts at the old DGM written paper towards the CGM limit. After six, each further attempt needs evidence of additional educational experience supported by your educational supervisor and training programme director or equivalent.

Withdrawal is by email and does not count as an attempt. After the closing date a refund is only given in substantiated exceptional circumstances, and then at 90% of the fee. Absence without notice is not refunded. If the RCP cancels an exam you get the fee back in full, but not travel or accommodation, which is one more reason to book Liverpool after the admission document arrives. Visa problems are not grounds for a refund.

The slips that catch people

• The CGM deadline is 11am on a Monday, not midnight. Treat Friday 15 January as the real deadline.
• The window opens in the first working week of January. Sort your Orzone account and your regulator details over the holidays.
• Registration verification is the RCP’s job, but a lapsed or wrongly entered registration number is yours.
• Proctoring setup is a task with a deadline, not an email to file.
• The DGM admission document decides your travel. Do not book a hotel for 1 June until you know you are not sitting on 4 June.

How this fits the platform

Once the form is in, the work is the revision. The DGM Core Calendar plans back from 24 February, the question bank has 1,000 best-of-five questions across fourteen modules with a timed 50-in-90 mock, and the OSCE module covers the clinical stations. You can try ten questions free on the DGM page.

Core Revision is independent and not affiliated with the Royal College of Physicians or the British Geriatrics Society.