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Annual Review of Competence Progression
What is an ARCP?

The Annual Review of Competence Progression (ARCP) looks at your progression through your year of training.  

An ARCP needs to take place annually, and at the end of each ST year; this can sometimes mean that you have more than one ARCP per year. For example, if you are going out of programme or starting maternity leave you will have an ARCP prior to the start of this or as soon as possible on your return. This will review the period from your last ARCP to the start of your OOP/paternity leave etc. Sometimes there are additional reasons that the panel may recommend that you have an additional ARCP in the year (e.g. moving up to the next level of training, or earlier completion of training) – the ARCP panel and/or your TPD recommending the additional review will have told you about this. You should be notified of the date of your ARCP at least 6 weeks beforehand. 

It is really important that you know what you need to do for your current year of training based on the PROGRESS curriculum and your own training needs, and look at this with your educational supervisor early on in your training post.  By working towards this throughout the year, and by keeping your ePortfolio organised, you should be prepared for your ARCP. 

Your outcome for your ARCP will be a number – please see further down for the full list of outcomes. 

 
What do you need to have ready for your ARCP?

Make sure your training posts are logged in Kaizen.  Please try to be as specific as possible when filling this in so that the right information will be pulled into your reports ready for the ARCP. 

  • On Kaizen- put together a folder labelled ARCP. Please label the folder with the year of training and ARCP date – e.g. ST7, December 2021 

  • Upload a completed form R (for Covid-19 this form is different – click here to get a copy of the form) 

  • Summarise your evidence for the year – list courses, certificates (e.g. APLS, NLS, Safeguarding, GMC survey participation) 

  • Your current CV 

  • Do you have completed trainee-led educational supervisor report/s?   These take quite a while to fill in – make sure you leave yourself and your trainers sufficient time to complete these in advance of your ARCP (complete these at least 10 working days before your ARCP). 

  • Ensure you have appropriate evidence and Supervisor reports recorded on Kaizen (see relevant checklist below). Remember you will need to have an educational supervisor report and clinical supervisor report for all posts being considered at this ARCP. Remember if your ES is not your CS, you will need a separate CS report for your posts.  If your ES is your CS, make sure they fill in the extra section in their form. 

  • Do you have the required WBPAs completed on ePortfolio (see table below)?     https://www.rcpch.ac.uk/resources/assessment-guide#assessments-table

  • Have you completed a MSF for this training year?  Remember to include a variety of different health professionals in your invitation list – nurses, consultants, other trainees/ fellows and AHPs if you work with them regularly. 

  • Have you completed a Form R and trainee self-assessment and declaration form?     

  • If you are LTFT have you completed the CCT calculator?     

My supervisor has not completed an Educational Supervisor Trainer’s Report. What will happen?

For ARCP, every post completed within the assessment period must have an Educational Supervisor Trainer’s Report. 

If an ES has been unable to complete the report due to Covid-related issues (for instance, if an ES is shielding), the ARCP panel will look to use alternative evidence if possible, e.g. trainee self-assessment form etc to make a judgment. An appropriate Covid Outcome 10 will then be issued. 

If the ES report unavailability is unrelated to Covid, this will mean insufficient evidence has been presented and an Outcome 5 will be issued. 

 
 
Trainees coming to the end of training

Trainees at the point of completion of training and intending to CCT must have undertaken the START assessment with evidence of remediation (if required) completed and clearly documented on Eportfolio in a sub-folder entitled ‘START Reflection and Remediation’ which should be placed in the ARCP folder. 

To ensure that your CCT is not delayed, it is important that all correct documentation is submitted on time. 

Please refer to the RCPCH standards for satisfactory completion of level 3 for more details. 

Your educational supervisor trainer’s report from your current post must specifically state that you are able to progress to being a consultant – there is an option for this built into the ESR form. 

 
 
Grid Trainees

In addition to the educational supervisor report, grid trainees should also ensure that they have a CSAC progression report on Kaizen that has been completed within 6 months of the date of the ARCP.  This is required annually for sub-specialty trainees. 

Grid trainees will receive their ARCP outcome based on the recommendation from their CSAC progression report and their general level 3 progression  Remember to keep putting evidence on your ePortfolio tagged to both your specialty curriculum and also the level 3 generic curriculum. 

Please contact your CSAC ASAP to arrange a CSAC review with a recommendation for the subspecialty component of ARCP outcome if you have not had one recently. 

Trainees on OOP

All trainees on OOP (except OOPC) must complete an “Out of Programme Trainee Update Form for ARCP Panel” indicating the type of OOP they are on with a summary of current OOP activity. The form must be signed by their current supervisor in order to demonstrate adequate progress (or not) during the time on OOP. 

Many trainees on OOP and academic trainees (ACLs/ACFs) will have been redeployed to acute clinical services over the past few months. 

The directive is that trainees on OOPE and OOPR should be given an OOP outcome 8 for this current ARCP. 

*Any clinical work undertaken and supervised should be documented in the trainee’s eportfolio. This will be reviewed and accredited at the next clinical ARCP. 

 Trainees on OOPT will be assessed as per a clinical ARCP and should therefore submit everything outlined in the clinical ARCP checklist, along with a completed “OOP update form for ARCP”. 

All trainees on OOPE, OOPR and OOPT should also complete the Form R and CCT calculator as well as the Exams & Courses Pro Forma. 

Trainees on OOPC should complete and submit a Form R. 

Trainees on OOPR

An academic supervisor report is necessary to document your academic progress through the year. If any time has been agreed to count toward your training and CCT, please state this and upload the approval letter from the Regional Adviser. During the pandemic, you may not have been able to undertake your research and may have been redeployed into a clinical service. This will need to be discussed with your TPD outside of your ARCP. 

All trainees on OOPE, OOPR and OOPT should also complete the Form R and CCT calculator as well asthe Exams & Courses Pro Forma. 

Trainees on OOPC should complete and submit a Form R. 

 
 
ARCPs for Trainees on parental leave/ long-term sick leave – please complete your form R!

Trainees who are not currently actively in the programme due to parental leave/ long-term sick leave are not required to maintain their ePortfolio or participate in the ARCP process.  We will still require you to submit a Form R. 

You will be issued with an Outcome 0 and the relevant ‘N’ code to indicate why you were not reviewed this year. 

What happens if I do not complete all the requirements in time?

At the time that the ARCP panel conducts the eportfolio review, all necessary assessments and reports etc. must be clearly evident. If this is not the case, trainees will be issued with an Outcome 2 or infrequently, an Outcome 5. 

 An Outcome 5 is an outcome issued when trainees have not provided evidence of all of the requirements for a satisfactory outcome. 

The outcome summary will specify what requirements have not been met/ what evidence is missing. 

Trainees have 2 weeks from the date on which the Outcome 5 is issued in which to submit the outstanding information requested 

The ARCP panel chair will then review the eportfolio, complete another ARCP form and hopefully issue a satisfactory outcome. Failure to provide the evidence will result in an Outcome 2 or 3. 

 
 
ARCP outcome codes

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 

Outcome4 
Released from training programme-With or without specified competencies 

Outcome 5 
Incomplete evidence presented-Additional training time may be required. You will have 2 working weeks from your ARCP to provide the required evidence in order for you to receive a satisfactory outcome. 

Outcome 6 
Gained all required competencies-will be recommended as having completed the training programme and recommended for the award of a CCT 

Outcome 8 
Out of Programme for clinical experience (OOPE) research (OOPR) or a career break (OOPC) 

N Codes 
No Outcome issued as trainee is not actively in the training programme (parental leave or other statutory leave) 

 
 
Why is there more than one outcome showing on my ePortfolio?

  • If you are a Grid trainee, you will receive two outcomes for each assessment round – one for your generic paediatric training and one for your subspecialty training. 

  • If you have spent part of the year Out of Programme (OOP), you will receive an outcome 8 for the portion of the year spent OOP and a separate outcome for the time spent in clinical training. 

  • If you have received an Outcome 5, this will always be followed by a final outcome (e.g. outcome 1, 2 or 3) at a later date.  However, the Outcome 5 will remain on your record. 

     
 
Links to relevant and helpful Documents:
Thursday, 3 December, 2020
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