Peer Support Lead | Workforce Board

The role of the Peer to Peer Support Lead is to work with the Vice President of Membership and Workforce and the Workforce and Professionalism team to guide and support College Peer Supporters to deliver peer to peer support to College members.

The College offers informal peer to peer support to members who are looking for a confidential listening space and/or guidance from a Peer Supporter who is a clinical volunteer from the College membership. The peer to peer support is offered as a non-judgmental, confidential listening space and  can help to sign-post members to relevant resources and explore options for how to move forward. Topics discussed may include workplace behaviour issues, interpersonal difficulties, return to work options and other non-clinical concerns.

This is not intended as a counselling service or a formal mentoring service but rather a ‘connecting’ service and a way for members to talk to an experienced peer to access impartial advice and guidance on handling non-clinical issues.

Peer Support has been developed specifically for RCOG members and is a benefit of membership. Clinical Peer Supporter volunteers are appointed from the College membership and provided with relevant training.

1. To support the work and the development of the RCOG Peer Supporters in collaboration with the Vice President of Membership and Workforce and the Workforce and Professionalism team.
2. To advise on the development of a dedicated training programme to be introduced for Peer Supporters to include an onboarding and induction programme as well as relevant refresher training.
3. To provide guidance and oversight of the matching of requests for Peer Support with relevant Peer Supporters.
4. To act as the primary point of contact for Peer Supporters to ensure Peer Supporters are supported and guided in their role. To be a member of the RCOG Workforce Board and make regular reports to the Board of the work of Peer Supporters while respecting the confidential nature of discussions.
5. To work with other relevant organisations on peer support initiatives which could promote or enhance the RCOG offering.
6. To provide guidance on the development of RCOG eLearning and online resources which may further support RCOG membership.
7. To liaise with the Head of Workforce and Professionalism concerning policy and staffing issues.

• Workforce Board
• Peer Supporters

Flexible

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 practise with GMC, in good standing
• Substantive consultant or Senior* SAS doctor in obstetrics and/or gynaecology in UK NHS Practice
• Evidence of annual appraisal
• Evidence of equal opportunities and diversity training within previous three years

*ten years postgraduate experience, including six years in O&G

The RCOG Peer Support Lead should be an individual with experience in resolving workplace conflict and building positive workplace culture. They should have a good working knowledge of professional support available for legal advice, wellbeing support and counselling.  Experience of managing volunteers and an awareness of RCOG’s supporting our doctors portfolio would be an advantage.

• Excellent communication skills
• The ability to liaise with College Officers, Peer Supporters, and RCOG Workplace Behaviour Advisers
• An enthusiasm for reducing undermining and bullying in the workplace through taking a proactive approach to addressing negative workplace behaviours

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.