Portfolio Pathway Advisor | Portfolio Pathway Advisory Group

Portfolio Pathway Advisor

Portfolio Pathway Advisory Group (which reports to Education Board)

Three years

Assessment as above

A Portfolio Pathway Advisor would be expected to:

• Participate in up to six assessments per year (for the main monthly meetings), either through presenting your findings or as a reader, supporting the presenter.
• Both presenters and readers complete the same standardised assessment form. It requires an extensive assessment of an application to complete a detailed assessor form, which must include the reference numbers as to where certain pieces of evidence can be located. 
• If you have been allocated to present a particular application, you must attend the relevant meeting. You may not always attend the meeting if you are a reader but when this is the case, we must be informed in advance and have your completed assessor form at least 24 hours prior to the meeting, to discuss on your behalf.
• Members are required to attend at least 50 per cent of the main monthly meetings, whether they are presenting or reading. For example, if a member has been allocated six assessments throughout the year, they will need to attend at least three of the relevant meetings. 
• In addition to the main monthly meetings, you may be called upon at other times to undertake additional assessments and attend a smaller case by case meeting. These additional meetings will be set up as and when required and will be organised around your availability. 
• When you are attending a meeting, these should be treated as formal committee proceedings, even though we have moved from face to face meetings held at the college to a 100% per cent virtual platform. We require members who are attending their allocated meetings throughout the year to take appropriate leave/time out from their clinical commitments to give full attention on these proceedings. We understand you may be called away as an emergency on occasion, but as a general rule of thumb, please appropriately schedule these meetings in your diary to avoid any clashes with your clinical commitments. This is aided by the whole year’s meeting dates (with the exception of the case by case meeting) at the start of the year.

Senior Portfolio Pathway Advisor, Deputy Senior Portfolio Pathway Advisor, fellow Portfolio Pathway Advisors and the Portfolio Pathway Manager.

It is likely you will undertake up to six assessments (either as a presenter or a reader) for the main monthly meetings throughout the year, as an average.

Usually, three to four  applications are assessed at the main monthly meetings. If more applications are received one particular month, you may be asked to confirm your availability to assess and attend an additional smaller meeting, only as and when necessary.

These meetings will be scheduled on a case by case basis each month and will only involve the reader, presenter and chair of that particular application.

Each Portfolio Pathway Advisory Group meeting lasts approximately three hours (i.e. one hour per application).

Undertaking an assessment may take approximately four hours per application assessment (but this is dependent on the complexities of each application).

This role reflects the present requirements of the post. As duties and responsibilities change and develop the role description will be reviewed and be subject to amendment in consultation with the post holder. The role description will be re-evaluated at the end of the term.

Essential

• FRCOG/MRCOG
• Registered with a licence to practice with GMC, in good standing
• Fellow or Member of the College in a substantive post in NHS practice (those awarded the
• Portfolio Pathway/CESR must have been successful at least two years prior to applying)
• Evidence of annual appraisal
• Evidence of equal opportunities and diversity training within previous three years

Essential

• Active involvement in training and education (for example, Educational Supervisor, a member of a School, College Tutor, Foundation Programme Director, Unit Training Director, Director of Medical Education etc.)

• Excellent and thorough attention to detail
• Familiarity with the Obstetrics and Gynaecology core curriculum
• Interest in and understanding of the Portfolio Pathway process
• Commitment to work as a team to undertake assessments robustly and to a high standard of accuracy, and gaining an awareness of the complexities and challenges some assessments may bring
• Provide flexibility and be open to undertaking more assessments than usual, where possible, at periods when this is required i.e. when the College receives an extremely high number of applications

The 2019 RCOG CPD Guide can be found here.

Committee Chair/Member/Course Convenors and Organisers

If within your committee role or work as course convenor or organiser you gain knowledge which enhances patient care or leadership and technical skills (including for example, giving presentations, teaching sessions or mock examining) credits can be claimed as an ‘Experiential Learning Event’.

Reflection is required to claim credits for an Experiential Learning Event. 2 CPD credits are claimable following reflection. In addition 1 or 2 credits are claimable for an action following the learning (1 credit for a simple action, 2 credits for a complex action). To claim credits for an action, the individual needs to demonstrate how they have applied their learning to their practice, the service they provide and/or the potential impact of the learning.