What is an ARCP?
You will receive an ARCP (Annual Review of Competence Progression) at least on an annual basis. It is a process which enables you and the deanery to record that you are gaining all competencies required by your training programme at an appropriate rate and through appropriate experience. It is not in itself a means or tool of assessment.
The main Scotland Deanery ARCP pages can be found here.
The Deanery will notify you of the dates of your ARCP these have been planned 12 months in advance and can be accessed by clicking on the tab below. It has been agreed that GPST are required to submit their evidence at least two weeks before the date of the ARCP. The Deanery expects a level of professionalism from all trainees and educational supervisors in this respect and requires trainees to work towards and meet this submission date. Failure to do so will result in the issue of an outcome 5, unless exceptional circumstances apply.
You will be notified of your ARCP by email, 8 weeks before the date of the ARCP review.
| ARCP Date | Evidence/ESR Submission Date | |
| October | 30th & 31st October | 16th October 2024 |
| November | 27th November | 13th November 2024 |
| Winter ST3 | 10th - 12th December & 8th January | 30th November 2024 |
| Winter ST1&2 | 14th - 16th January 2024 | 24th December 2024 |
| January |
8th January 2025 (ST3 only) 28th-30th January 2025 |
24th December 2024 14th January 2024 |
| February |
25th-27th February 2025 |
11th February 2025 |
| March |
25th-27th March 2025 |
11th March 2025 |
| April |
23rd-24th April 2025 |
9th April 2025 |
| May |
27th-28th May 2025 |
13th May 2025 |
| Summer ST3 |
10th-12th June |
31th May 2025 |
| Summer ST1-2 |
24th-27th June 2025 |
14th June 2025 |
| July |
9th-10th July 2025 29th-31st July 2025 |
25th June 2025 15th July 2025 |
| August |
26th - 28th August 2025 |
12th August 2025 |
| September |
23rd - 25th September 2025 |
9th September 2025 |
| October |
29th & 30th October 2025 |
15th October 2025 |
| November |
26th November 2025 |
12th November 2025 |
Trainees are required to have an ARCP yearly with a maximum of 15 months between ARCP. The Scotland Deanery ARCP panels are run monthly, with increased numbers of panels during June/July and December/January to manage the full time trainee ARCP numbers.
LTFT trainees will be placed on an appropriately timed panel to meet their training requirements. Gateway ARCPs are preferred. Gateways ARCPs occur at the transition between training years, for example, at the end of GPST1/GPST2/GPST3. With LTFT training, we aim to plan Gateway ARCPs but this is not always possible. We also try to minimise the total number of ARCPs during the training period to reduce workload for the trainee, ES and ARCP team. The final ARCP will occur within 8 weeks of the CCT date.
When at trainee applies for LTFT training, the admin team will review the next planned ARCP date and contact the trainee with the provisional revised date.
LTFT trainees are still required to have 2 ESR reviews for each ARCP cycle.
Please contact your local administrator if you are uncertain of your ARCP date.
A review period is a date range in training where learning logs and assessments are attached within the trainee’s e-portfolio. This is set by the ES following an ESR and this will default to a 6-month date. The Deanery admin teams can create and alter review periods.
The ES is able to alter the review period on FourteenFish by accessing the supervisors area from the Dashboard and clicking on ‘view’ of the trainee whose date you wish to amend. The review dates can be altered by clicking on the dates and changing to the correct date. A visual guide and further instructions can be found on the FourteenFish Help Centre. Changing Review period dates – FourteenFish Help Centre
If the review end date has passed then the Deanery admin team will be required to make the change. Please contact your local administrator.
The Deanery will send the trainee an ARCP checklist with your 8 week ARCP email. Trainees are encouraged to complete this and upload to their portfolio to reduce the risk of missing evidence and receiving an Outcome 5.
Please refer to the RCGP guidance for full details of training requirements.
ARCP requirements:
Non-participatory safeguarding learning – trainees are required to have evidence of non-participatory learning every 12 months. Non-participatory learning refers to theoretical learning and may come from e-modules (such as Red Rock for Adult Safeguarding and eLfH for Child Safeguarding Level 3), delivered safeguarding courses, reflections on toolkits, journal reading.
Participatory safeguarding learning – trainees are required to have evidence of participatory learning every training year. Participatory learning refers to learning from a specific case and is about the application of your theoretical knowledge. This would preferably be a case that you were personally involved with but could be a case from a safeguarding meeting with other members of your team or as case discussion as part of face-to-face training.
ARCP at end of training year (Gateway) – all WPBA requirements completed RCGP WPBA Minimum mandatory evidence Progression is also visible in the requirements page of the Portfolio.
ARCP midway through training year – evidence of progress towards completion of WPBA requirements.
The Panel Chair will complete the ARCP form on the Portfolio following the panel. On completion, the trainee will be notified by FourteenFish and the ARCP form will be visible to the trainee and ES.
The Panel Admin will upload the ARCP outcome to TURAS following completion of the panel. Trainees will be required to acknowledge ARCP outcomes on both Fourteen Fish and Turas.
The Panel Chair will meet with trainees who receive an Outcome 2, 3 or 4 within 2 weeks of the ARCP to discuss the outcome. ARCP appeals process can be found here:
Trainees who have received an Outcome 5 will have a further ARCP date set to review the required evidence. This date will be noted in the ARCP documentation and will be visible on the training timeline.
GP Specialty Training (rcgp.org.uk)
In the last few months of training the GMC will invite you to apply online for your CCT.
Following your final ARCP, your application will be sent electronically to the RCGP once you have signed the ARCP outcome form. RCGP require 15 days to process your application. When all the evidence required has been submitted, the RCGP will recommend you for the Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT) and will notify the GMC.
You must also apply to be included in the Performers List. In Scotland, each health board runs its own performers list.
Jackie Aitken, Team Lead for East, North and South East of Scotland GP Training Programmes – jackie.aitken@nhs.scot
Claire Beharrie, Team Lead for West of Scotland GP Training Programmes – claire.beharrie@nhs.scot
Andrew Brown, Administrator for the East and Grampian Training Programmes – andrew.brown@nhs.scot
John Mann, Administrator for South East of Scotland Fife and West Lothian Programmes and North of Scotland Caledonian Programme – john.mann@nhs.scot
Rachel Easingwood, Administrator for South East of Scotland Edinburgh Central, Borders and East Lothian programmes and North of Scotland Rural Track Programme - rachel.easingwood@nhs.scot
Jennifer Mullen, Administrator for Glasgow South and Glasgow North East Programmes – Jennifer.mullen@nhs.scot
Liz Phillips, Administrator for Ayrshire and Arran, Dumfries and Galloway and Lanarkshire Programmes – liz.phillips@nhs.scot
Stephen Gitsham, Administrator for Glasgow Clyde, Glasgow North West and Forth Valley Programmes – stephen.gitsham@nhs.scot
Who is on my ARCP Panel?
Each panel has a minimum of a Panel Chair, 2 Panel Members and a Panel Administrator. Panel Chairs are Assistant Directors and experienced TPDs. Panel member roles are undertaken by NES staff (ADs, TPDs, AAs). The Panel Chair and Members should not all be from same region in Scotland and TPDs should not be Panel Chairs/Members for their own programmes. In the larger Summer/ Winter panels, Panel Chairs will review trainees from out with their region.
What does an ARCP Panel do?
Each member of the panel are allocated a role; Panel Chair, Educational Assessment role and Learning Log role. The panel members are sent a matrix 2 weeks prior to the ARCP, listing all the trainees on the panel. Each panel member reviews their allocated area on each trainee’s portfolio.
The Panel Chair will review the previous ARCP form requirements + absences, Educator Notes, ESR , Exams if ST2/3 and the requirements tab for missing evidence. If the ESR is satisfactory, they will review BLS certificate including evidence for AED/Paeds, non-participatory safeguarding evidence, and participatory safeguarding evidence. If the ESR is unsatisfactory, they will review all the evidence in the Portfolio.
The Learning Log role checks the Clinical case reviews (numbers, appropriateness and quality of reflections), placement planning meetings, LES, QIA/QIP, OOHs if a GP post and Leadership if GPST3.
The Assessments role will review CSR for each post, MSF and MSF-L, prescribing assessment, CEPS, PSQ and PDP. If the ESR is satisfactory they will sample 50% of assessments. If the ESR is unsatisfactory they will review all assessments.
Panel process
What are the ARCP outcomes?
When should I complete my ESR?
The ESR must be completed within 8 weeks of an ARCP.
The Deanery require the ESR to be completed by 2 weeks before the date of the ARCP to allow the panel time to prepare.
For Full time trainees:
Trainees are required to have 2 ESRs (iESR and full ESR) for each yearly ARCP cycle. Trainees who have a developmental outcome (Outcome 2 or 3) will have an ARCP at 6 months and will require a full ESR prior to this. The Deanery will advise the trainee directly in these circumstances.
I am on maternity leave/sick leave when my next ARCP is due.
Trainees who are on maternity or prolonged sick leave will receive a ‘no review’ ARCP. The trainee is not required to prepare anything for this review. Trainees on maternity leave should have a SOAR declaration initiated. Trainees are encouraged but not required to complete the declaration.
I am not able to access a paediatric BLS course due to my current hospital placements
Trainees who have no paediatric exposure in any placement during the review period will only need to show adult CPR and AED competence. Please refer to the RCGP guidance.
CPR, AED and safeguarding requirements (rcgp.org.uk)
I am unable to complete child safeguarding participatory evidence due to my hospital posts
If a trainee does not have any posts within a specific training year that include children, they will not be expected to have participatory child safeguarding evidence although they are encouraged to reflect on any cases they have been involved with.
Child safeguarding non-participatory evidence is still required regardless of placements.
Pease refer to the RCGP guidance. CPR, AED and safeguarding requirements (rcgp.org.uk)
I received an Outcome 5 and I have concerns.
An outcome 5 is a holding outcome due to missing evidence. It is not a ‘fail’ or a developmental outcome. Receipt of an Outcome 5 will not be used to disadvantage trainees. You will be given a period (usually 2 weeks but up to 8 weeks) to submit the evidence and a further outcome will be submitted following review.
Please refer to the general ARCP website for further information. FAQs - What happens after your ARCP (nhs.scot)
Trainees are encouraged to use the ARCP checklist prior to ARCP and upload this to the Portfolio. This will reduce the risk of an Outcome 5 at ARCP.
