The Severn Postgraduate School of Psychiatry guide to ARCPs can be found here. This will provide you with a comprehensive summary of the ARCP process in Severn, which the School of Psychiatry follows.

Many trainees tell us that they feel anxious before their ARCP and worry about what will happen. We would like to help you to feel more confident as you approach your ARCP. It is almost always a time to celebrate all of the amazing things that you have been doing over the last year. Very occasionally things have not gone well, and the ARCP is then a time to reflect on the challenges there have been and make sure there is an effective plan in place to support you to progress through your training.

In the Severn School of Psychiatry, we aim to have at least one person on the ARCP panel who knows you. For core trainees this is most likely to be your Tutor, for advanced trainees this will be your Training Programme Director (TPD).

You will be given plenty of notice about the date of your ARCP. The dates are also published on the Website under 'Events'. You will get a detailed email outlining what you need to do and by when. Please read the information carefully.

ARCP's are least stressful when you have kept your Portfolio on Line up-to-date on a regular basis. If you have not been keeping it updated, make sure you plan some time to do this. You will also need to schedule a meeting with your current Supervisor so that they can complete the 'Psychiatric Supervisors' report. Before you meet them, make sure you have completed your section of this report to help with the discussion of your progress. You can use a supervision session (or two) to complete this.

You will then need to meet with your Tutor (Core trainees) or TPD (Advanced trainees) so that they can complete the 'Educational supervisor' report.

You need to make sure you have at least the minimum number of WPBA, and two mini-PAT for the year. If you are not sure what the requirements are, please check your curriculum

If you have had any significant events, then ensure you have uploaded a reflection.

A Form R is needed, and it has to be completed online via TSS self-service no more than 30 days before the ARCP (for revalidation purposes). This has to include your full scope of work: anything work you undertake (whether paid or not) that requires you to hold a GMC licence to practice must be included.  You will be sent full instructions.

The ARCP panel spends the morning going through the evidence for each trainee who is being assessed that day. The person on the panel who knows you will take a lead and the panel together will look at a variety of evidence including as a minimum your supervisor reports, a mini-PAT and your Form R. The panel will then complete the ARCP outcome form together. This will summarize the meeting and includes the ARCP Outcome.

Your TPD will arrange feedback with you following the ARCP. This is an important part of the process as it is when you get feedback on how you are getting on as well as getting confirmation of the Outcome. There is time to talk about what has gone well through the year and to think about goals for the next year.

At final ARCP's, at the end of training, the feedback session is a time for us to celebrate your success in completing training. We also ask trainees at this point to give us some feedback about their experience of training in Psychiatry in Severn.