Sign Off, ARCP , GMC Registration and Licensing

Sign off & ARCP

An Annual Review of Competence Progression (ARCP) process is being introduced nationally for all foundation trainees this year.  The ARCP will incorporate the process by which foundation trainees are signed off for Foundation Year 1 (F1) and Foundation Year 2 (F2). 

The sign off checklist (accessible below) lists the criteria that will be considered by the ARCP panel.  The list for F1 is slightly different from the one for F2.  Most of this information needs to be recorded directly in your e-portfolio but you will need to hand some of it into your postgraduate education centre. 

 F1 ARCP evidence required 2013

 F2 ARCP evidence required 2013

 Teaching mapping document

The Foundation Programme Curriculum 2012 Resource provides weblinks to a number of online resources which may be used as additional evidence on the teaching mapping document to demonstrate learning where formal teaching sessions have been missed.

The final deadline for information to be submitted in the e-portfolio or handed in to your postgraduate education centre is 4th June 2013.

Guidance about the evidence you need to submit

Most of the evidence requriements are straightforward.  The areas where you are likely to need to some guidance are given below.  If you have any other queries, plese contact your foundation programme training director or foundation administrator as soon as possible.

i) Evidence of curriculum outcomes
Within your e-portfolio you need to link relevant evidence of your achievement of each curriculum outcome and self rate against each outcome.  Evidence is likely to include clinical supervisor reports, educational supervisor reviews, TAB, SLEs and reflective records.  It may include on-line learning certificates but these are less appropriate for demonstrating performance.

Quality of evidence is more important than quantity e.g. just because your induction meeting highlights an opportunity to meet an outcome, linking your induction form does not demonstrate that you have met that outcome.  The evidence should be as specific and relevant to each outcome as possible.  A good portfolio would include a trainee comment for each outcome, highlighting how that outcome has been met, rather than simply listing a multitude of tenuously relevant evidence for the panel to sift through.  Although there is no maximum you may want to consider linking no more than 4-6 pieces of evidence for each outcome, so that your evidence is clearly focussed.

Any material that identifies patients must be anonymised appropriately in your e-portfolio.

ii) F1s only: Specialty application paper portfolio
In previous years, F1s in our School submitted a paper portfolio for sign-off.  The aim of this was to help prepare F1s for the exercise of compiling a paper portfolio for specialty interview.  This year, F1s are required to submit their e-portfolio and either a paper portfolio orientated towards their chosen specialty (10 pages max) or an up to date CV.  The paper portfolio will be reviewed and the trainee given feedback to help develop it for specialty application. 

 F1 specialty portfolio guidance

Guidance on how to construct a CV is provided below.

    CV template for sign off   

iii) F2s only: Form R for Revalidation
From December 2012, the GMC has introduced revalidation for all practising doctors who have full registration.  Licensed doctors are required to demonstrate on a regular basis that they are up to date and fit to practise and will have to revalidate, usually every five years.  Over each 5-year period, you will need to collect supporting information to show you are meeting the GMCs professional standards.  As a trainee, you will be gathering this information anyway in order to meet the requirements of your training programme.  The Postgraduate Dean, as Responsible Officer, will use the outcomes of your ARCP process to inform their recommendation to the GMC.

In addition, you are required to make a self-declaration of your scope of practice and whether you have been involved in any conduct, capability or formal Serious Untoward Incidents/Significant event investigations or named in complaints.  This declaration is called a Form R.  The Responsible Officer will use the information that you submit on your Form R, in conjunction with that declared to the Deanery by your employer, in the revalidation decision.

The national Foundation specific Form R will be published here shortly.  We are anticipating that this will be a paper version rather than on the e-portfolio.

For more information on Revalidation please see the GMC website at http://www.gmc-uk.org/doctors/revalidation.asp  

ARCP Panel

Most trainees will not attend a face-to-face panel.  However, those trainees who have been identified as being at risk of not being signed-off and a random 10% of the cohort will be required to attend a face-to-face panel meeting.

2013 ARCP face-to-face panel dates for each of the trusts are:

Please ensure that you keep your trust's date free and are available to attend if required.

Trainees will be notified by 30th April 2013 if they are required to attend a face-to-face panel.

ARCP outcomes

You will receive the outcome of your ARCP panel by 19th June 2013.  you will receive one of the following outcomes, whether you attend a face-to-face panel or not, and which will be recorded on an ARCP outcome form in your e-portfolio.

Further documents designed to assist trainees with the sign-off process can be accessed below - we hope all these documents will help F1s (in particular) gain an idea of what will be required so that portfolios can be built throughout the year to satisfy requirements.

 Foundation Trainee Supervision Help Sheet (updated July 2012) - a useful guide of what you and your supervisor need to do and when

 Target timeline (updated July 2012) - a quick reference guide designed to help you stay on track with your e-portfolio throughout the year

The Foundation Programme is both time and outcome-based. Foundation Doctors must complete 12 months in approved Foundation Year 1 (F1) placements and 12 months in approved Foundation Year 2 (F2) placements as well as meeting the other requirements of the programme. The document below aims to clarify absence and it's affect on the completion of the Foundation Programme.

 Absence and its effect on completing the Foundation Programme

Should Foundation Doctors feel they need additional support, for example, because of problems in their personal life, health or performance as a doctor, the Deanery has produced a help sheet to offer guidance for anyone experiencing difficulties and to help point them to where they can find help. A copy of this document is accessible below:

Doctor in Difficulty Foundation Helpsheet

GMC registration

Provisional registration

All F1 doctors must be provisionally registered with the GMC and have a licence to practise before they commence shadowing and in post - the date by which F1 trainees commencing in August 2013 must have provisional registration in place is Tuesday 30th July 2013.  Applications with Fitness to Practise declarations take longer to assess - so it's important to apply early. 

Full registration

All F2 doctors must have Full Registration with the GMC and a licence to practise prior to commencing in post. 

The GMC will be writing to all F1 trainees in May to explain the process; trainees within the Peninsula will also receive a letter from us containing instructions on what to do.

In addition, please see the document and guidelines below detailing the full registration process for 2013.

Full registration slide 

Full registration is managed by the medical school you graduated from or by the Foundation School linked to your medical school.  All Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry students, regardless of current Foundation School, need to send their Certificate of Experience (CoE) to:

Jane Bunce
Peninsula Foundation Foundation School Manager
Peninsula Deanery
Raleigh Building, Tamar Science Park
Plymouth
PL6 8BY

In order for an authorised signatory to fill in and sign your Certificate of Experience they will need to have received your 5.1 Attainment of Competence OR a pass list from your local Deanery office/Trust - more details regarding this will be posted here shortly.

If in doubt, please contact Jane on 01752 676175 or via This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Information regarding Licensing will appear here as relevant and also see the GMC website.