ARCP Outcomes
Deanery review the progress of all doctors in specialist (including GP and core) training on at least an annual basis, depending on when the doctor began their training programme and their progress though training.
Postgraduate doctors in training who started on or after 1 August 2007 are covered by ARCP, details of which can be found in A Reference Guide for Postgraduate Specialty Training in the UK (’The Gold Guide’).
ARCP panels conduct reviews and issue each postgraduate doctors with an ARCP outcome (see table below). The panel may request to arrange a call review or conduct e-portfolio review in absentia.
The objective is to determine the extent of the postgraduate doctors in training progress against the competences described in a GMC approved specialty curriculum. This involves reviewing the evidence that are submitted about their training, which may include:
• workplace based assessments
• a report from the educational supervisor
• team observation summaries
• royal college or faculty professional exam results (this list is not exhaustive).
The Relevance of ARCP Outcome
During specialist training, postgraduate doctors in training progresses from a basic level through a programme of teaching and training to completion of training and entry onto the specialist or GP register.
The rate at which they progress is determined both by characteristics of the postgraduate doctors themselves and the environment in which they are being trained. Therefore, in postgraduate training, outcomes other than standard progress are to be expected. Those who do not progress at the standard rate will usually undergo another ARCP meeting within six to 12 months.
The importance of the ARCP processes is to identify where a postgraduate doctor in training is making progress and where they are not and to prescribe action to improve the progress where necessary. Therefore outcomes termed unsatisfactory are not necessarily undesirable. They may in fact reflect a supportive educational environment which proactively identifies issues and helps the postgraduate doctors to correct them or identifies a deficiency in the educational environment that needs to be corrected for them to be successful. Equally, a high proportion of satisfactory outcomes may reflect a less rigorous assessment process.
ARCP Outcome breakdown