All doctors occupying a Specialty training post are required to undertake a yearly assessment of their progress (Annual Review of Competence Progression).
Each annual assessment is carried out by a small specialty-based panel as detailed in the Gold Guide. It will provide an opportunity for the trainee to provide comments on their training to date, as well as reviewing their progress/competences and identifying specific training needs.
The annual review will confirm the progress of Specialty Trainee through the training programme, followed by a documented recommendation for the following year, ie:
- that the trainee is ready to progress to the next year of a structured training programme
- that all the competences have been achieved
- that targeted training or repeat training at the same level is required
- to provide a final statement of the trainee's completion of the training programme
Successful completion of the full training programme will lead to a recommendation from the Specialist Training Committee that a Certificate of Completion of Training be issued - the CCT.
Repeated failure to progress will lead to withdrawal from the training programme.
The ARCP process is covered in more detail in the 6th Edition Gold Guide