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This page aims to be a on-stop-shop for all resources and information that will help you in your role and provide additional information you might find useful. If you are aware of something that should be featured here, or that might help your colleagues in other regions, please let us know on qualityandtrainingprojects@rcpch.ac.uk

Spotlight on... sharing best practice

Our plan for this space is to feature an individual or region that is leading the way on something exceptional. This could be a unique way you are securing training posts, managing rota gaps or addressing workforce issues in your region. Whatever it is - this is your space to share it and we are keen to know more! Please let us know if you would like to nominate someone or something to feature in this space on qualityandtrainingprojects@rcpch.ac.uk.

Meetings in 2024-25

The Heads of School Committee | RCPCH/membership/committees/heads-school-committee meets three times a year, once jointly with the Trainee Committee.

Dates for 2024-25 are:

• 24 September 2024, 09:00-13:00 - Remote meeting
• 24 February 2025, 09:00-13:00 - Remote meeting

To raise an item for discussion at one of the above meetings, download the Agenda item request form below and send it to training.services@rcpch.ac.uk.Ìý

Paediatrician of the Future

Published in October 2020, this is a guide to the RCPCH principles for postgraduate paediatric training and how to apply them within local training programmes. It applies to our updated training programme, RCPCH Progress+, which is live as of summer 2023.

You can download the guide at the bottom of this page. It includes ideas, illustrations and case studies drawn from examples of practice across the UK.

Some may be straightforward to implement locally; suggestions are given on how to best work within current constraints and maximise the opportunities for every trainee to access the training they want and need.

Some may be more aspirational but are designed to be useful prompts for those responsible for designing training, as they consider where and how changes to the training programmes should be targeted in future.

Have your say about Progress+

We are constantly striving to ensure the Paediatric Progress+ curriculum remains robust and sustainable for our trainees. As part of this, we want to hear how it is working for you in your regions. Please complete our short online survey to feedback on your experiences and opinions. We will use this as part of our continued quality assurance process with the GMC.

Capability-based progression

Progress+ is based on trainees' meeting capabilities, rather than being time-based. Read our helpful guidance on capability progression written by our Vice President for Training and Assessment, Dr Cathryn Chadwick.ÌýThis guidance is for paediatric trainees, their supervisors and Heads of School and outlines when progression through the next gateway of training is appropriate.

Supporting training

Thrive Paediatrics

With funding from the Dinwoodie Charitable Company, our Thrive Paediatrics programme aims to improve the working lives of paediatricians. It recognises the many multi-layered, multifaceted challenges that the workforce is facing and identifies the need for change.ÌýRead more here and access our resource hub on RCPCH Learning.

Managing allegations of bullying

We had an issue helpfully raised with us through one CSAC regarding CSAC involvement in cases of alleged bullying. These are naturally complicated situations, where the College and its CSACs will want to offer some support to trainees. It is however important to understand the difference between issues that have to do with quality of training, which the College has some delegated responsibility over from the GMC and issues that have to do with employment, which the College should not become directly involved with. This is to try and protect both the College and individual CSAC members.

Issues of bullying have two broad factors – the situation for the individual as an employee, which would rest for resolution with the Health Board/Trust and/or the Deanery – and the impact on quality of training, which should concern both the College (which recommends certification for training) and the Deanery (which approves programmes and posts).

Trainees may understandably seek advice from members of the CSAC and may do so directly without involving the College team first. Allegations of bullying are often very complex, caused by multiple people in different services/circumstances. It is therefore impossible to give meaningful formal guidance that will apply to all cases. However, here are some important points to consider should this issue arise within your CSAC:

• Request permission from the trainee to flag this with the College staff, explaining that staff will naturally be bound by rules of confidentiality. This will allow you to seek advice from staff throughout the process. Raise this with sufficiently senior staff members (Head of Department or above). The trainee’s right to confidentiality throughout must be managed sensitively.
• Understand what processes the trainee has already used to address the allegation of bullying. Have they reviewed their local hospital policy on bullying and harassment? Have they raised the allegation through the Health Board/Trust’s staff support service? Have they raised the allegation with their Deanery (usually through the Training Programme Director or Head of School)? The Health/Board Trust and the Deanery act as employers and they should be the primary focus for trainees wanting to address active bullying and trainees should be encouraged to use these channels primarily.
• Note longer-term considerations about the appropriateness of placing trainees at a site which has been flagged for bullying. Ideally, if the trainee is raising this with the Deanery, the CSAC can seek clarity from the Head of School that training implications for the site have been considered as part of this process. This may include pausing the placing of trainees at the site. Any considerations for sub-specialty trainees are likely to be applicable to non-sub-specialty trainees in the same placement; therefore liaison with the Head of School is recommended.
• Understand if there are consequences for the trainee’s own training progression and understand whether additional training time is required.
• Seek advice from the College's Training & Quality staff team and through the clinical leads on the Training & Quality Board throughout.
• If in an unlikely situation, you are called to testify in an investigation on bullying led by the Health Board/Trust, reach out to the Director of Education & Training who can work with the College’s Head of Governance to ensure you are suitably prepared. It is important to understand that when cases reach this stage, they may bring with them legal liability for both the College and the individual CSAC member.

Supporting less than full time trainees

See our guidance on supporting less than full time trainees. This includes statutory and RCPCH guidance, as well as contacts for LTFT trainees.

Pregnancy and fertility issues in the workplace

New guidance to support trainees coming soon!

Resources for supporting neurodiversity - coming soon!

New resources from the College coming soon!

In the meantime, take a look at  for neurodiversity recommended by HEE, as well as our blog with trainees' experiences of neurodiversity.

Judging learning outcomes for ARCP

Judging learning outcomes for ARCP - This helpful document helps you judge how well a trainee has achieved their capabilities for an ARCP Panel. ARCPs are set up by deaneries and carried out locally.Ìý

ePortfolio guidance

Download ePortfolio guidance for educational supervisors below - You can also signpost trainees to our ePortfolio guidance for doctorsÌý±è²¹²µ±ð.

Training Charter and Trainee Toolkit

The Training Charter outlines what the College expects from every training unit in the UK, across key domains. We hope that training units will strive to achieve these aims and that the Charter will be a hallmark of high quality local training. References from the General Medical Council (GMC) and Gold Guide have been given. The Training Charter has been updated in 2024 to provide recommendations on SPA time.Ìý

The Trainee Toolkit is a document for trainees (and their trainers) which covers the essential elements on what to expect from a training post. We have also provided examples of good practice - aiming to reflect variation across the country - that showcase how different centres look after their trainees.

Other useful resources

 sets out ten standards that the GMC expects organisations responsible for educating and training medical students and doctors in the UK to meet.

The standards and requirements are organised around five themes. Some requirements – what an organisation must do to show us they are meeting the standards – may apply to a specific stage of education and training

 supports the development of positive safety cultures and continuous learning across all learning environments in the NHS. It is underpinned by principles of equality, diversity and inclusion.Ìý

College volunteers

Claiming expenses - Claim reimbursement for College activities using our online system.

Register of interests - Record conflicts of interest using our online form to ensure that personal circumstances that might compromise the ability to be seen as acting correctly are properly disclosed. Forms will be held securely for 6 years in line with the College’s retention schedule. If your conflicts change, you can update them at any time by submitting a new form.

Workforce

The College plays a key role in workforce planning to ensure there is an appropriately trained paediatric medical workforce to deliver safe and sustainable services for children in the UK - in the present and in the future. View reports, infographics and our toolkit which guides consultant paediatricians in the NHS from preparation for the first job planning meeting, through to objective setting and review, plus information on leave and alternative working patterns.

To support members and other stakeholders, we collate and present paediatric workforce information in the UK via interactive maps and graphs, plus a detailed list of official resources. Read our workforce reports and more here.Ìý

Thrive Paediatrics is a project that aims to improve the working lives of paediatricians. It recognises the many multi-layered, multifaceted challenges that the workforce is facing and identifies the need for change. Read more, get involved and signpost colleagues and trainees to the many resources to aid wellbeing!

Annual feedback form and report

Each year we run a process whereby Head of Schools submit a detailed annual report with a roundup of positives, negatives, risks and opportunities impacting their sub-specialty. Whilst this has been reviewed each year in the past, we want to make this into a clear quality improvement cycle.

In future, we will follow this process:

• Head of Schools will be sent an Annual Activity and Feedback form link via MS Forms. Head of Schools are required to submit their responses via the form link by the deadline mentioned in the emails.
• The Quality and Training Project team will create a comprehensive report based on responses received.
• The Training & Quality Board, as the senior committee of the Head of School forum, will review these reports and produce an action plan for them. Some actions will be owned by TQB, some will be directed back to the Heads and some will be owned by other bodies in the Education & Training Division.
• The following year’s annual review will then address new issues but also note the completion of the actions set in the previous year’s action plan.

We want this to be a more impactful way of reliably addressing issues and ensuring that you feel connected to the Training & Quality Board as your reporting Board in your roles as Head of Schools.

Thank you to all Heads of School who completed the annual feedback form for 2023/2024. This is so important, as it allows us to identify how we can support you and the work we do more fully. We are exploring the themes you raised and how we can work together to put some of your suggestions into practice.Ìý

The Head of School AFF report for 2023/2024 is now published and accessible below

2025 Key Dates: Annual feedback and reporting

Externality

The use of external experts is recognised to be a beneficial method of providing objectivity in some of the processes undertaken by deaneries to manage the quality of education and training. This is also a formal requirement of the  for all specialities.

It is the Gold Guide requirement that an EA reviews at least 10 per cent of all ARCP outcomes and the evidence supporting these. This also includes recommendations from the panel about concerns over progress (ARCP outcomes 2, 3 and 4).

We are seeking experienced ARCP panel members who are familiar with the RCPCH curriculum and the ePortfolio to act as external representatives at ARCP panels around the UK remotely.ÌýIf you are interested, please contact qualityandtrainingprojects@rcpch.ac.uk. We will provide guidance and link you up with the deanery and send you a letter afterwards which you can use as CPD.