Assessors for medical consultant interviews

Ask the employing body to inform the Workforce team. The employing body should not approach potential College assessors directly.

No. This is to ensure there is no bias and the College assessor will usually be chosen from a geographically distant area to ensure impartiality.

The College assessor does not have a role in establishing SPA content of a post at the appointment committee. The job description would normally have been through a review process prior to advertisement.

The job description will have been approved beforehand and so the College assessor should not comment upon this at the appointment committee. However if the College assessor has any concerns these should be brought to the attention of the Workforce team prior to the interview.

Inform the Workforce team.

Members of the appointment committee should not normally act as a referee for a shortlisted candidate to avoid allegations of bias. For small specialties, where it could cause difficulty if a member of the appointment committee is acting as referee, this should be indicated at the start of the appointment committee's deliberations so that other members are fully informed.

It is not necessary to stand down as College assessor. Please declare at the start of the appointment committee's deliberations that you know/have worked together. If you are related or married to the candidate in which case you would need to stand down.

Usually these are read at the end of each interview or at the end of all the interviews.

Usually there will be some form of presentation by the candidates on a topic of which they will have been informed in the letter calling them for interview. Practices do vary considerably and it is now not unusual for there to be some form of psychometric or skills assessment included. Examples include a mock MDT for a cellular pathology candidates where this forms an important part of the duties.

The College recognises and is supportive of the duties of employers to ensure that the person most suitable to the post is appointed and that all appropriate selection modalities are utilised. If you have concerns regarding the method of selection, please inform the Workforce team immediately.

The employing body is required to reimburse the College assessor for all reasonable expenses incurred while attending the appointment committee. College assessors should ensure they keep the receipts for expenses and ask the employing body Human Resources representative for an expenses form on the day. It is advised that, if possible, you take a photocopy of the expenses and ask Human Resources to inform you when payment will be made.

College assessors are entitled to receive a fee from the employing body for sitting on the appointment committee as specified in Pay Circulars. Please note that, in the case of foundation trusts, you need to ensure that there is a written agreement to pay fees and expenses prior to the appointment committee.

As representative of the Royal College of Pathologists it is not your role to provide feedback (verbal or written) to interview candidates and other applicants. Giving verbal feedback to candidates as a College representative could place you at risk of complaint from a candidate and no formal record of the feedback given would exist. The candidate may ask for formal interview feedback through the usual process offered by the Human Resources department.

Prior to the appointment committee you will have been sent a College pack. In this pack, there will be a feedback form on which details of the successful candidate(s) should be recorded along with any comments regarding the conduct of the appointment committee. Any issues of concern should be noted on the feedback form also. Please write/type clearly as possible, filling in all details concisely.

This feedback form should be returned to the College as soon as possible after the appointment committee as this information is essential for workforce planning.

We include the successful candidate’s name in the next edition of the College Bulletin, keeping our fellows informed. The aggregated statistics from the appointment committees is used to advise Council, HEE and other agencies on trends in recruitment in pathology specialties. The College needs to respond to any shortfalls, both apparent and predicted.

If a candidate is selected against your advice, then a report should be sent to the Workforce team who will then forward it with the authority of the College to the employing body. If you feel the appointment made will endanger the maintenance of proper standards, you should inform the appointment committee of your intention to lodge a report to the College.

Foundation trusts are not obligated to involve medical royal colleges in their appointments process. As such, the job description may not have been seen by the Regional Job Description Review Panel. It may not conform to the recommendations produced by the College.

A College assessor may still be asked to attend the interview and the College feels that this is appropriate even for non-approved posts as the workforce data is a valuable source of information.

If you are asked to be a College assessor for a non-approved post, this will be made clear when you are first approached by the College.

If you are contacted directly to be a College assessor for a foundation trust, please inform the Workforce team.

It is a legal requirement for a doctor to have their name entered on the Specialist Register of the General Medical Council (GMC) or General Dental Council (GDC) before taking up a substantive, honorary or fixed-term NHS consultant post in the UK.

You can check if a doctor is on the GMC Specialist Register and if they are licenced to practise. To find out, go to the GMC website and click on 'Check a doctor's registration status'. Put in their name or GMC number and their details will appear.

The GMC Specialist Register is called the List of Registered Medical Practitioners.

More information on the GMC's Specialist Register is available on their website.

The BMA has produced a guide, which provides a basic introduction to working as a doctor in the UK, for all doctors who are new to the UK.

European law means that the registration process for doctors from the EEA is quite straightforward. The same rules apply to doctors from Switzerland.

Applicants should be entitled to full registration if they meet both of the following criteria:

1. a citizen of an EEA member state or Switzerland
2. have completed basic medical training in an EEA member state or Switzerland and hold a recognised qualification. Completing their training means that they have finished any periods of pre-registration experience and are entitled to full registration in the country in which they trained. Detailed registration information for EEA and Swiss nationals who have qualified in an EEA member state or Switzerland is available from the GMC.

International medical graduates (IMGs) wishing to practise in the UK need to contact the GMC. Conditions that allow the GMC to grant full registration to IMGs are governed by law in The Medical Act 1983.

The PLAB test (Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board) is the main route by which IMGs demonstrate that they have the necessary skills and knowledge to practise medicine in the UK.

If an applicant holds a specialist qualification from another EEA country, they need to apply to be included in the GMC Specialist Register. The GMC cannot include them in the Specialist Register until they have been accepted onto the main GMC Medical Register, but they can apply for both at the same time. Please note, it is a legal requirement that they must be on the GMC Specialist Register if they wish to work as an NHS consultant in a substantive post.

If they hold a recognised qualification in a specialty that is listed in the relevant European legislation (Directive 93/16/EC), the process of gaining entry on the GMC Specialist Register should be quite straightforward. If their qualification is in a specialty that is not included in the legislation, the GMC will assess their qualification on an individual basis. The GMC should be able to tell them which category they fall into when they first contact its staff about registration.

Employers will require applicants to have a high standard of written and spoken English. Directive 2005/36/EC on the Recognition of Professional Qualifications, which came into law in October 2007, entitles EEA citizens who are holders of third country qualifications to benefit from the Directive if their qualifications have been recognised by a first member state according to its national rules and they have practised the profession for at least 3 years in that member state.

Information is available on the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) website.

Rules on the movement of health professionals across Europe are a major improvement in patient safety, according to the GMC. The changes mean the GMC will be able to check a doctor’s language skills before they are allowed to practise in the UK. There is an alert system being introduced, requiring health regulators across Europe to warn each other within 3 days when a doctor or other health professional has been removed from its register, or has had their practice restricted.

Employers will require applicants to have a high standard of written and spoken English. Directive 2005/36/EC on the Recognition of Professional Qualifications, which came into law in October 2007, entitles EEA citizens who are holders of third country qualifications to benefit from the Directive if their qualifications have been recognised by a first member state according to its national rules and they have practised the profession for at least 3 years in that member state.

Information is available on the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) website.

Rules on the movement of health professionals across Europe are a major improvement in patient safety, according to the GMC. The changes mean the GMC will be able to check a doctor’s language skills before they are allowed to practise in the UK. There is an alert system being introduced, requiring health regulators across Europe to warn each other within 3 days when a doctor or other health professional has been removed from its register, or has had their practice restricted.

It is a legal requirement for a doctor to have their name entered on the Specialist Register of the General Medical Council (GMC) before taking up a substantive, honorary or fixed-term NHS consultant post in the UK.

Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT) – previously Certificate of Completion of Specialist Training (CCST). This is the route for doctors who have satisfactorily completed an approved specialist training programme in the UK.

Specialty equivalence (CESR) – previously Article 14. This is the route for doctors wishing to make a direct application to the Specialist Register on the basis of training, qualifications and experience undertaken anywhere in the world.

Combined programme (CESR) – The CESR through the Combined Programme (CP) route is for doctors who have been appointed to a GMC-approved deanery specialist/specialty training programme above ST1 level and who have not completed all of their training in posts approved by GMC for the specialty to which they have been appointed.

CESR in Academic & Research Medicine – A very small number of individuals will not have followed a conventional training pathway and will be eligible for entry to the Specialist Register via the academic and research route, on the basis of their specialised expertise and academic and research contribution in a particular field. Their entry on the Specialist Register will not be in a CCT specialty but they should be able to offer advice and expertise in their specific subject at consultant level and should, therefore, be able to be appointed as consultants in their specific area of competence.

Automatic Mutual Recognition – previously European. This is for those who hold a recognised specialist medical qualification from another European Member State.

Existing Specialists Scheme – The GMC have reintroduced a direct application (Grandfathering) for individuals who were NHS consultants prior to 1 January 1997.

For more information, see the GMC website: https://www.gmc-uk.org/registration-and-licensing

The NHS Employment Check Standards outline the employment checks employers must carry out before appointing staff into NHS positions.