CORE TRAINING

RCoA Novice Guide

The RCoA have produced an excellent guide to anaesthetic training aimed at the novice.

On appointment to a core training post please complete a core registration form and send it to the membership department at the RCoA. Once you are registered, a Lifelong Learning Platform (LLp) account will be created for you.  Registration with the College is a General Medical Council requirement.

Core training is normally two years in duration and starts with the Introduction to anaesthesia including the Initial Assessment of Competence (IAC), which is usually completed within the first six months of training. The remainder of the two years is dedicated to completing core anaesthesia and passing the Primary FRCA.

Trainees who enter via the Acute Care Common Stem(ACCS) complete the core level in three years. Two of the years are in ACCS and the third year is solely anaesthesia.  For further information on the ACCS programme, please visit the ACCS website. https://www.accs.ac.uk/accs

You should record training progress in the LLp. Assessments and their summary Completion of Unit of Training (CUT) forms will create digital copies of the IAC, Initial Assessment of Competence in Obstetric Anaesthesia, and Core Level Training Certificate.

Hospital Placements

One year will normally be spent in a teaching hospital, either Birmingham Heartlands Hospital  or University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire  (UHCW), and one year in a district general hospital either Warwick Hospital, George Eliot in Nuneaton, Alexandra in Redditch or Good Hope in Sutton Coldfield.

Work place assessments need to be completed on the e-portfolio.Multi-source feedback (MSF) should be done every year. During the first 12 months, three months will be spent doing a module in intensive care.

During the second year a module in obstetrics should lead to completion of the initial obstetric competencies.

Examinations

The primary FRCA exam focuses on basic sciences.Further details can be found here https://www.rcoa.ac.uk/examinations/primary-frca-examinations

The Warwickshire School runs a half-day release teaching course to prepare trainees for the primary exam. It is held at Solihull hospital on Tuesday mornings, during term time.

Assessment

Each hospital has a college tutor and every trainee will be allocated an educational supervisor. The educational supervisor will meet with the trainee at the beginning of the placement and will carry out regular appraisals.

Educational meetings should be carried out every three months . Details of the paperwork required are on the trainee information pages of the school website.

All trainees will have an annual review of competence progression (ARCP) at which the following are assessed:Logbook, personal portfolio including appraisals, competency assessments, workplace assessments, multi source feedback and examination success.

A successful outcome from the ARCP is required to progress to the next year of training.