North West School of Surgery - Core Surgical Training Assessments - Greater Manchester, Lancashire and South Cumbria

North West Postgraduate Medical and Dental Education

Core Surgical Training

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Greater Manchester, Lancashire and South Cumbria Assessments (ARCPs and IPRs)

Annual Review of Competence Progression (ARCP)

An ARCP (Annual Review of Competence Progression) will take place for all resident doctors (including LTFT doctors) at least once per calendar year.

For most doctors this will take place in June/July, however some doctors may have their ARCP in December/January. Ad-hoc ARCPs may take place at other times of the year as required.

The ARCP outcome will be decided at an 'ARCP Assessment Panel', at which the resident doctor will not be present, therefore all evidence must be on their ISCP portfolio seven working days before the ARCP Assessment Panel date.

Resident doctors will not normally attend the ARCP Assessment Panel, however the TPD may ask them to attend for an Educational Meeting, which will take place after the Assessment Panel have decided the ARCP outcome.

Resident doctors issued a developmental outcome (Outcome 2, 3 or 4) must attend the 'ARCP Feedback Panel' to discuss the outcome and objectives for the next period of training.

Resident doctors issued with an outcome 5 will have a deadline to submit additional evidence, and my be required to attend the ARCP Feedback panel.

 Core Surgical Training Global Objectives and ARCP Requirements

Interim Progress Review (IPR)

Once a year, all surgical resident doctors will also be invited to an IPR (Interim Progress Review). Depending on the specialty, this will either:

• Take place half way between ARCPs, or six months before the first ARCP for resident doctors new to the training programme, or;
• Following the ARCP assessment panel.

IPRs are arranged by the TPD who will advise you of when this will tak place, what is expected and where this will be held, and will forward any meeting links.

The IPR is a formal face-to-face meeting to review your ISCP portfolio to assess your progress towards a satisfactory outcome at your next ARCP or to feedback on your portfolio for the past year.

The ISCP portfolio must be up to date and it is usually expected that resident doctors should have achieved approximately half of the annual requirements for the year or evidence towards achieving the requirements (such as involvement in an audit) by the time of the IPR if it take place half-way through the year.

The IPR is also a chance for resident doctors to discuss and feedback about their training experience.

Dates of Next Assessments

Ad-hoc ARCPs and Interim Reviews for individual doctors may take place on other dates, affected doctors will be notified by email.

Please note that the above dates are subject to change; if there are any amendments these will be reflected on the website as soon as possible.

Form R

The Form R is a mandatory requirement from the GMC for all ARCPs.

From August 2022, only Part B of the Form R needs to be completed for every ARCP (the Form R is not required for Interim Progress Reviews and the Form R Part A is no longer required for ARCP).

The Form R must be completed within 4 weeks of the ARCP and by the deadline for evidence submission. If a Form R (part B) has not been completed within the month prior to the ARCP or is incomplete the panel will be unable to issue a satisfactory outcome.

It is important any ongoing or closed investigations/complaints since your last Form R (Part B) are included.

You must make sure that all parts of the Form R are fully completed including the scope of practice section. The Scope of practice should include:

• Each of your training posts if you are or were in a training programme;
• Any time out of programme, e.g. OOP, maternity leave, career break, etc;
• Any voluntary or advisory work, work in non-NHS bodies, or self-employment;
• Any work as a locum. For locum work, please group shifts with one employer within an unbroken period as one employer-entry. Include the number of shifts worked during each employer-period.

To use TSS you must first sign up using the email address that NHS England – have recorded for you. Trying to sign up with any other email address means the sign up process will fail.

 More Information on TSS and the Form R

JCST Certification Guidelines

The JCST's certification guidelines are available within the curriculum pages of the ISCP website.

Last updated: 28 August 2025