ARCP Panels

 

What the panel will be looking for?
The only information available to the panel is what is on your portfolio and visible using the administrator log in. This means that items in the learning log that are not marked as ‘shared’ will not be seen, nor will items saved in the ‘personal library’ section. You need to make sure that all your work is uploaded appropriately.

 

The minimum requirements are:
Assessments: a full set of assessments, as specified on the RCGP website, for the year about to be completed should be uploaded onto the portfolio before the Deanery team start to review the portfolios prior to panel meetings: i.e. before the first week in June. If you did not do the full set of assessments in the post that started in August last year you will need to do extra assessments in the current post to compensate for this.
The assessments should also show competence levels appropriate to your stage of training and demonstrate progression and improvement over time.
Learning log: this should record learning in a range of different formats, e.g. half day release, tutorials, out of hours sessions, and should demonstrate coverage of all chapters of the RCGP curriculum.
Personal development plan: this should list identified learning needs, realistic ways to meet them, and show that some of them have been met.
You should realise that merely having the minimum content in each of these three sections may not provide sufficient evidence for the panel. The content of the three sections should be complementary: i.e. areas for improvement that are identified in the assessments should be shown in the personal development plan, and should be addressed in the learning log. It may well be that you would wish to include additional assessments, for instance COT or CBD, to demonstrate acquisition of skills.
If you want to be confident of a smooth progression through the panel process you should aim to have more than the bare minimum of entries in your portfolio. This additional material may be from additional assessments if they are appropriate, or it may be things that demonstrate thoughtful consideration of your learning needs and appropriate measures to meet them.
Educational supervisor’s and clinical supervisor’s reports: these should also be uploaded before the first week in June. If you are in a GP post you should ask your Trainer to provide a clinical supervisor’s report. Although this is not a national requirement we have taken the decision to make this mandatory in Yorkshire. Again it is important that these are uploaded to the portfolio in a way that makes them visible to an administrator log in. You will be given more information about this nearer the time.

What's the Timetable for the Panels?

 

PMETB requires the deaneries to complete their panel processes for their trainees 6 weeks before the end of the training programme so that CCTs can be issued at the completion date. 

 

The deanery will start to examine portfolios in the first week of June and invite any trainees whose portfolios indicate any concerns to a face to face review in the second week of June. 

 

If you are completing your training programme at this time it is essential that you protect these dates in your diaries in the event of an invitation to a panel review. Failure to do this may lead to a delay in your application for a CCT and compromise future employment.

 

Trainees who are making the transition to the next year of the training programme will be assessed two weeks later.  Portfolios will be examined during the third week in June and, if there are any that give cause concern, trainees will be invited to face to face reviews over the following three weeks.  Panels will take place on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays in each of the three weeks.

Quality Assurance
A small percentage of trainees will be invited to a panel for quality assurance purposes. This is a RCGP requirement. These trainees will be informed that this is the case and not that their portfolio gives cause for concern.