ARCP & Assessments

Preparing for your end of year ARCP can be confusing and stressful, with a seemingly mountain of paperwork to organise and complete. This section helps simplify this process by grouping all of the required documents in one place alongside guidance as to how to prepare for these important milestones.

Your ARCP is your Annual Review of Competency Progression.

In the Birmingham School we run ARCP’s throughout the year.
The ARCP’s are run according to the rules set out in the Gold Guide.

You are required to have an ARCP every calendar year and will be informed of the date in plenty of time to prepare. Evidence for your ARCP should be collected throughout the year and not left till the last minute.

Core Training

• CT1/ACCS CT2 – July
• CT2/ACCS CT3 – June/July (Aim to issue a CLT Certificate)

Specialist Training

• ST3 – Just after progression into ST4
• ST4 – Just before the end of ST4 
• ST5 – Just after progression into ST6
• ST6 – Just before the end of ST6
• ST7 – EXIT ARCP within 3 months of your CCT date

If your training moves out of sync with the schedule then one of the other ARCP dates will be utilised. The most appropriate one will be utilised depending on your training progression. If there are a high number of trainees to be seen at one ARCP date then some of you may be moved to the next ARCP, again depending on your training level.

The Deanery (HEE-WM) organise the ARCP’s. The School will agree a schedule for the day and inform the Deanery. The Deanery will then send out your invite with the time of your ARCP and confirmation of the venue. The venue can vary but it is in Birmingham. 

The Deanery will also ask you to complete a Form R (Revalidation Document Part A and Part B). Intrepid 10 was taken off line in April last year and replaced with a new system called Trainee Information System (TIS), which trainees do not have access to yet. For ARCP, a paper form R will be emailed out by a member of the assessment team to each trainee prior to their ARCP. This should be completed and returned to HEWM and uploaded to your LLP prior to the ARCP.

The Form R is a self-declaration form completed by all doctors in training. Part B of the Form R is used for revalidation purposes and asks for information about recent scope of practice, time out of training, and declarations relating to revalidation. This information informs the ARCP Panel to comment on a doctor in training’s fitness to practice, which in turn informs the Dean’s recommendation to the GMC about their revalidation.

For all anaesthetists in training the Form Rs must reflect ALL clinical practice undertaken in the year the ARCP is assessing. This includes any and all work in the capacity as a registered medical practitioner, paid or unpaid, inside and outside of NHS institutions. Examples include locum work, including within their own trust, and provision of medical cover at events such as sporting events,fairs, exhibitions and festivals. The Conference of Postgraduate Medical Deans (COPMeD)has issued further guidance around this issue.

Your ARCP reviews all aspects of your training including professionalism, attitudes and behaviour. Your attire should be professional and smart, projecting your aim to become a Consultant.

The panel will comprise of:

• Chairperson – TPD
• Deanery representative
• Regional Advisor
• ICM/military/academic representative if required
• Consultants with ARCP training – usually College Tutors or Educational Supervisors
• RCoA External Advisor – sometimes
• Lay Member – sometimes

The ARCP panel will review all of the evidence of your training year via the LLP. The requirements are different depending on your stage of training.

Submission of evidence should be done 2 weeks before the ARCP date to allow the TPD to identify any shortcomings.

Trainees on the 2021 curriculum to use the new checklist for ARCPs from July 2022 onwards. Trainees stayng on 2010 curriculum to use previous national ARCP checklist on the College and BSA website.

Your ES and College Tutor should refer to the relevant ARCP checklist when reviewing your ESSR:

• Checklists for ACCS trainees
• Checklists for Core trainees
• Checklists for Registrars

The LLLP logbook is the only logbook to be used for ARCP

Logbook summaries will be required for the current year of training (since your last ARCP), and a cumulative logbook for the entire CT or ST training.

At your ARCP you will be given one of the following outcomes:

• Outcome 1: Satisfactory Progress – Achieving progress and the development of competencies at the expected rate
   
• Outcome 2: Development of specific competencies required – Additional training time not required
   
• Outcome 3: Inadequate progress – Additional training time required
   
• Outcome 4: Released from training program with or without specified competencies
   
• Outcome 5: Incomplete evidence presented – Additional training time may be required
   
• Outcome 6: Gained all required competencies – Will be recommended as having completed the training program and for award of CCT or CESR(CP). Core Trainees will be recommended for the award of Core Level Training Certificate

All ARCP outcomes will be electronically recorded on LLLP.  Any old paper based ARCP outcomes should be uploaded to  the LLLP

For the final ARCP, the ‘Outcome 6’ and the ‘Notification of Completion of Training’ forms need to be emailed directly to the Training Department at the Royal College of Anaesthetists training@rcoa.ac.uk  because receiving those documents prompts them to begin the process of recommending a trainee to the GMC. It is preferable if they are both sent together as it just makes it slightly easier for the College but it’s not mandatory.

As part of that process the College need to check the LLP to ensure all other ARCPs have been uploaded to the ‘personal evidence’ in the library section so trainees need to do this rather than the Deanery. The College have asked that you label them appropriately (e.g. ARCP ST5 or ARCP 2013-14) then this will help to find them easier.

LTFT trainees must be reviewed by an ARCP panel at least once every calendar year, according to the Gold Guide.

This means:

- You will be invited to your ARCPs part way through a training year
- You will be assessed according to the proportion of training you have completed

At three points, your ARCP will coincide with the end of each stage of training

You will need to complete an ESSR for your ARCP the same as Full Time trainees.