Message from Dr Roz Ward, Core Psychiatry Training Programme Director
Dear all,
I just want to make sure everyone is aware of the expectations around attending this course.
The Royal College of Psychiatrists stipulate that attendance is mandatory, and indeed it is necessary before being signed off to take your MRCPsych examinations. It is held on a normal working day, and Trusts are very clear that it is a contractual requirement that you always attend.
We recognise that there will be occasions, including annual leave and study leave, when you will be unable to attend, so for that reason we have set the minimum attendance rate at 75%. This means that we expect you to attend at least 75% of sessions in order to achieve an outcome 1 at your ARCP and to be signed off to sit the examinations.
For those on an on-call rota, we expect the same attendance as if you were at work. Eg after a relatively quiet night we would expect full attendance and after a very busy night we would expect that you take compensatory rest, eg in the morning, and attend the afternoon course.
For those on a working nights shift, we do not expect you to attend during your week of working nights. However, we would expect that you take your compensatory rest for this period at times that would allow you to attend the course.
For those on daytime duty rotas, we expect that you swap these duties with your colleagues to allow you to attend the course. The DMEs are supportive of this, and any failure to attend the course on a Thursday for this reason should be accompanied by evidence that you have included your DME in attempts to resolve this.
Special circumstances, sick leave and compassionate leave, will be considered on an individual basis.
We will be forwarding your attendance rates to your educational supervisors, and disparities between attending the course and attending your usual place of work will be dealt with as a probity issue.
Best wishes
Roz