Sign Off and ARCP 

The following information relates to the Sign off process for 2024. 

An Annual Review of Competence Progression (ARCP) is the process by which foundation trainees are signed off for Foundation Year 1 (F1) and Foundation Year 2 (F2).

The sign off checklist (accessible below) lists the criteria that will be considered by the ARCP panel. The list for F1 is slightly different from the one for F2.   

F1 ARCP evidence required 2024

F2 ARCP evidence required 2024

The Foundation Programme Curriculum Resource Guide provides weblinks to a number of online resources which may be used as additional evidence on the teaching mapping document to demonstrate learning where formal teaching sessions have been missed. 

Peninsula Foundation School – ARCP checklist for Foundation Doctors 

The school checklist has been written in accordance with the UKFPO published checklist. It sets out the criteria that must be reached to get a satisfactory ARCP outcome (1 or 6). 

Below are additional expectations of the Peninsula foundation school and aide memoirs for portfolio checks in preparation for ARCP panels. 

Curriculum assessment 

  • ALS should be linked to FPC 2 (iLS in F1 if unable to do ALS)  

  • PSA certificate should be linked to FPC 4 (F1s)  

  • FPC 9 should have evidence of QI activity F1s (e.g., data collection) and a full QIP F2s (e.g. upload presentation given of QIP)  

  • FPC 10 should have evidence of delivering a teaching session during FY1 and FY2 – e.g.,DCT or LEADER assessment  

  • FPC 11 Evidence of engagement with quality assurance activity (you could upload evidence of the completion of GMC survey or end of post survey or participant in Foundation Quality panel)

Other portfolio evidence 

  • Teaching log – minimum 30 hours core teaching; minimum 60 hours total(please see the UKFP guidance on what counts as Core and Non-Core)  

  • The school does not specify any e-learning that can count towards core teaching, furthermore it recommends that no more than 10 hours e-learning be counted towards non-core teaching.  This is to ensure FDs experience a range of training opportunities  

  • Evidence of attending simulation sessions – this is a requirement of the core teaching programme in both F1 and F2  

  • Three summary narratives  

  • Evidence of regular reflection  

  • Evidence of contemporaneous portfolio activity demonstrating competence in both physical and mental health across, acute, non-acute and community settings  

  • Form R  All Time Out of Training (TOOT) e.g. Compassionate Leave, Parental Leave, Sickness Absence, Jury Service, Industrial Action and any other statutory reason should be recorded on your form R.  (please see further information below)

  • Study Leave record form  

Notes: 

The following continue to be recommended as good professional practice but are no longer a mandatory requirement in the curriculum for ARCP evidence (HORUS has not yet been fully updated): 

  • Initial CS and ES meeting records  

  • PDPs(please remember, a PDP is required for study leave requests) 

 Peninsula Foundation School – Guidance for curriculum linking 2024 

 All Foundation trainees: Enhanced Form R for Revalidation

The GMC introduced revalidation for all practising doctors who have full registration (includes all F2s and specialty trainees). Licensed doctors are required to demonstrate on a regular basis that they are up to date and fit to practise and will have to revalidate, usually every five years. The Postgraduate Dean is the Responsible Officer for making recommendations to the GMC that trainees should be revalidated.

Over each 5-year period, you need to collect supporting information to show you are meeting the GMC's professional standards. As a trainee, you will be gathering this information anyway in order to meet the requirements of your training programme. The Postgraduate Dean, as your Responsible Officer, will use the outcomes of your ARCP process to inform their recommendation to the GMC.

In addition, you are required to make a self-declaration of your scope of practice and whether you have been involved in any conduct, capability or formal Serious Untoward Incidents/Significant event investigations or named in complaints. This declaration is called an Enhanced Form R and you need to provide one for your ARCP panel. The Responsible Officer will use the information that you submit on your Form R, in conjunction with that declared to us by your employer, in the revalidation decision.

The Enhanced Form R will be available within your Horus e-portfolio under Forms.

For more information on Revalidation please see the GMC website.

ARCP Panel

Trainees who have been awarded an adverse outcome and a minimum random 10% of the cohort will be invited to attend a face-to-face post ARCP feedback meeting. 

2024 ARCP dates 

All trainee portfolios must be completed by Thursday 30th May 2024

ARCP Panel dates Monday 3rd June - Friday 14th June 2024

Final ARCP outcomes - by 28th June 2024

Appeals Deadline - Thursday 11th July 2024


ARCP outcomes

You will receive one of the following outcomes which will be recorded on an ARCP outcome form in your e-portfolio.

F1 ARCP review panel outcome: F2 ARCP review panel outcome:

Outcome 1:

Satisfactory completion of F1

Outcome 6:

Satisfactory completion of F2 - Recommendation for the award of the Foundation Achievement of Competence Document (FACD)

Outcome 3: Inadequate progress – additional training time required
Outcome 4: Released from training programme
Outcome 5: Incomplete evidence presented – additional training time may be required

Further documents designed to assist trainees with the sign-off process can be accessed below - we hope all these documents will help F1s (in particular) gain an idea of what will be required so that portfolios can be built throughout the year to satisfy requirements.

Foundation Trainee Supervision Help sheet - a useful guide of what you and your supervisor need to do and when.

The Foundation Programme is both time and outcome-based. Foundation Doctors must complete 12 months in approved Foundation Year 1 (F1) placements and 12 months in approved Foundation Year 2 (F2) placements as well as meeting the other requirements of the programme. The GMC guidance for absence states that if trainees miss any time they were due to be on duty this will count as an absence whether it was a weekday, weekend or night shift. The maximum number of days a trainee can be absent when they were due to be on duty is 20.

Should Foundation Doctors feel they need additional support, for example, because of problems in their personal life, health or performance as a doctor, Peninsula Postgraduate Medical Education has produced a help sheet to offer guidance for anyone experiencing difficulties and to help point them to where they can find help. A copy of this document is accessible below:

Trainee Support Foundation Helpsheet