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What are Clinical Competencies and the Annual Review of Competence Progression.
During your protected academic time, you will not be required to complete any workplace based assessments related to clinical competencies such as DOPs, CEX etc. However, for any clinical time that occurs within that training year, you need to complete the appropriate number of assessments. For example, for an ACF if you are taking a 9-month research block (i.e. 75% of the year), you will need to complete 25% of the workplace-based assessments for that year and a separate trainer’s report for your clinical placement. You will need to complete an ARCP (Annual Review of Competence Progression) each year.
The ARCP should, for the clinical academic trainee, involve review of both clinical and academic progress and therefore be undertaken by clinical and academic staff together. Although progress on both clinical and academic fronts should be documented, and future training needs for both identified; a single outcome should be determined, with patient safety a dominant consideration. HEE will send you details of this. You should read these carefully as the requirements will differ for ACF/CL trainees from clinical trainees. For further details please see the trainee resources on the HEE IAT webpage.
It is also important to consider relevant Royal College examinations such as MRCP. In general, it is advisable to get these exams out of the way as soon as practicable before starting your research as studying for exams and starting up a research project at the same time will be challenging. Normally, an ACF will not be allowed to proceed into ST3 without completing MRCP in a medical specialty, and there are similar requirements in many other specialties. Plan ahead as much as possible and make sure you are aware of the requirements for your specialty.
CL postholders will generally already be established in specialty training, but it is important to consider any specialty-specific exit exams and discuss the timing of these (if relevant) with your clinical and academic supervisors. A CL post is generally only tenable, up to CCT (unless a NIHR CL extension is granted), so you need to take this into account in planning your career progression.
Annual Review of Competency Progression (ARCP)
As an ACF/CL your ARCP will involve reviews of both your clinical and academic progression. Any outcome given at the ARCP will reflect both components and therefore be undertaken by clinical and academic staff together. Although progress on both clinical and academic fronts should be documented, and future training needs for both identified; a single outcome should be determined, with patient safety a dominant consideration.
The ARCP form should be completed by the academic trainee in consultation with their academic supervisor and if applicable, other academics who have been involved with the trainee during the period being reviewed. For further guidance and to see a copy of the Academic Progress Report Form, please visit HEE Integrated Academic Training.