 Whatever the reasons underlying the diminishing exposure of medical students to gynaecological examination are, the current status quo is unacceptable. Teaching innovations are urgently required to enhance teaching of a skill which is fundamental to both gynaecological and general medical practice. A strategy becoming increasingly popular is the use of gynaecological teaching associates or GTAs for short. These women are expert patients who have been trained to undergo and teach gynaecological examination, giving valuable and immediate feedback to the students. In North America GTAs are quite commonly used in the medical curriculum and they have also been used in Canada, Australia and Scandinavia. In the UK pelvic examination is still mainly taught through simulation on pelvic models manikins combined with experience gained from supervised teaching on women attending outpatient clinics and those anaesthetised for surgery within clinical attachments. However, the length of these placements varies in length throughout UK medical schools and the quality of experience is likely to be inconsistent even within medical schools. In 2011 at the Birmingham Womens Hospital BWH, we instituted a GTA teaching programme. Final year medical students from the University of Birmingham Medical School allocated clinical placements in OG at the BWH undergo GTA teaching within the first week of their five week attachment. To date, in keeping with other Universities with GTA programmes experience, such as Oxford University and Kings College, London 1, our students have given universally positive feedback Clark TJ, Personal Communication. 