Vice Chair | Portfolio Pathway Advisory Group

Education Board, where required

The Vice Advisory Chair liaises extremely closely with the Advisory Chair to share the workload, where necessary. The role also works very closely Portfolio Pathway Manager to determine what needs to be completed and by when, particularly when/after chairing meetings. Communication between the three members will be important. The Portfolio Pathway Manager authors all evaluation forms but will liaise closely with the Advisory Chair and Vice Advisory Chair to ensure the report is finalised to a high standard.

The Vice Advisory Chair will work alongside all fellow Advisors.

There are approximately twelve advisory meetings per year. The Advisory Chair would attend and chair the majority of these meetings. However, they will delegate (with plenty of notice) to the Vice Advisory Chair when required. The review of evaluations will be on an ad-hoc basis (as and when they are ready throughout the month) and may take 30-60 minutes to review/approve. They may be some back and forth between the Vice Advisory Chair and the Portfolio Pathway Manager to ensure the final write-up is finalised to a high standard.

Education Board takes places quarterly and is usually on a Friday morning.

Other activities will be on an ad-hoc basis and will be driven by the Advisory Chair’s and Vice Chair’s availability i.e. when to hold webinars or additional meetings.

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.  

A new Vice Advisory Chair should be appointed at least three months before the end of the current holder's term of office and they should work closely together during this time in order to facilitate a smooth take-over period. The new Vice Advisory Chair should be an experienced CESR/Portfolio Pathway Advisor.

Essential

• MRCOG/FRCOG
• Registered with a licence to practice with GMC, in good standing
• Fellow or Member of the College in a substantive post in NHS practice
• Twelve months or more experience (previous or current) as an
• Advisor on the Portfolio Pathway Advisory Group
• Evidence of equal opportunities and diversity training within previous three years

Essential

• Twelve months or more experience (previous or current) as an Advisor on the Portfolio Pathway Advisory Group
• Chairing meetings and mediating discussions
• 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 – providing a high level review of all written documentation
• Ability to work across and provide a clinical overview for multiple (often complex) workstreams
• Actively contributing to improving processes
• Strong understanding of the obstetrics and gynaecology core curriculum
• Strong understanding of the Portfolio Pathway process, including the introduction of new standards (knowledge, skills and experience)
• Commitment to help lead 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

Information about the RCOG CPD Framework 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’.

CPD users can now freely select and record the number of credits for all their CPD activities. For Experiential Learning Events, a Reflection is required to claim the selected credits. In addition, 1 or 2 credits can be claimed 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.

For those who prefer to follow RCOG recommendations, the CPD Framework still provides a suggested number of credits that can be claimed for different CPD activities.

Further information can be found in the RCOG CPD Framework document.

Authority

The Portfolio Pathway Advisory Group reports to Education Board. 

Purpose

The Portfolio Pathway Advisory Group is responsible for the assessment of all Portfolio Pathway applications. 

The Portfolio Pathway is an alternative route to gain access onto the Specialist Register, other than a certificate of completion of training. The Portfolio Pathway Advisory Group is tasked with determining whether applicants to the Portfolio Pathway have the appropriate knowledge, skills and experience to perform as a substantive O&G consultant in the UK and be added to the Specialist Register.

The College, in conjunction with the General Medical Council (GMC) have published a Portfolio Pathway guidance document (which is regularly updated) to guide this process.

The key duties of the Portfolio Pathway Advisory Group are as follows:

• To determine methods of assessment according to guidance issued by the GMC and submit recommendations to the GMC with regards to this.
• To undertake first stage applications, reviews (a second opportunity for applicants to meet a set of specific recommendations) and appeals. These must be undertaken within seven weeks and all evaluations must be submitted to the GMC by/on specific deadlines. This forms part of the Service Level Agreement the College holds with the GMC.
• To keep the guidance document up to date and fit for purpose. If large scale changes or a change in approach are made, the RCOG committees (Education Board and Council) must be consulted, before submission to the GMC. This is in line with regulations and other governing documents, and legal and regulatory requirements.

The Portfolio Pathway Advisory Group has no financial delegations.

The Chair and Vice Chair of the group will be appointed by interview. These positions should be open only to those that have been part of the Advisory Group for more than 12 months.

The Portfolio Pathway Advisory Group shall comprise at least 12 advisors. Advisors must be a Fellow or Member of the College, working in a substantive post in NHS practice (those awarded the Portfolio Pathway/CESR must have been successful at least two years prior to applying)

n/a

None

The Portfolio Pathway Manager, Specialty Education & Training or their nominee shall act as the secretary of the Portfolio Pathway Advisory Group and will ensure that information and papers are received in a timely manner to enable full and proper consideration to be given to the issues.

The secretary shall note the proceedings and resolutions of all meetings, confirming a succinct list of recommendations, if required. Members can access finalised evaluation forms via GMC Connect.

Presenters (those who are leading discussions) are expected to attend the meeting. The second assessor (readers) have the flexibility to attend, as long as their completed assessor form is received prior to the meeting. Confirmation of when a member is presenting or reading each month is set out in advance at the start of the year.

The Portfolio Pathway Advisory Group shall meet at least 12 times each year, avoiding any clashes with other college committee members where necessary. All assessors are expected to undertake at least six assessments per year. There will be a few times per year where in-person attendance and faculty development and training are expected.

The notice of the each meeting is set up in the meeting schedule with location/time/date already agreed in advance.

Meeting dates will be determined by the Committee Chair and Portfolio Pathway Manager, Specialty Education & Training at the beginning of each calendar year, ensuring the dates are in accordance with interdependent RCOG Committee/Board meetings.

The Portfolio Pathway Advisory Group shall report to the GMC after each meeting via a completed, timely applicant assessment, uploaded onto GMC Connect. The GMC monitors the College’s performance in terms of meeting deadlines by providing the CEO with a quarterly performance report.

In terms of college governance, the Portfolio Pathway Advisory Group reports directly to Education Board.

The Portfolio Pathway Advisory Group shall at least annually, review its terms of reference to ensure it is operating at maximum effectiveness and recommend any changes it considers necessary to the Education Board.

Portfolio Pathway Manager