The Court of Electors has recently reviewed experience of visiting hospitals that are seeking approval of their training schemes for the Membership examination. Some ideas have crystallized about the features that are considered desirable and that should therefore be looked for. The scheme described below is an ideal one and unlikely to be fully realized in many centres at present; but it may be of interest to colleagues whose hospitals are being visited to know the sorts of things the visiting panel will be bearing in mind. These criteria are a modification of draft guidelines developed by Dr Marshall Annear.