Honorary Specialty Registrars Annual Review of Competence Progression

Background 

The University is committed to undertaking Performance and Development Review (P&DR) for all of its employees with the goal of maximising individual and organisational performance while supporting personal development. Clinical academic staff who hold honorary Speciality Registrar (StR) contracts with the NHS have been opted out of the standard University P&DR framework, on the understanding that the NHS scheme that SpRs are required to participate in is broadly comparable and will cover academic responsibilities. 

The Review Programme

The standard NHS review programme for StRs is called the Annual Review of Competence Progression (ARCP) and is an essential part of the StR training programme. The ARCP is central to professional accreditation for this group of doctors. It has been agreed that University employees who hold honorary StR contracts will use this scheme with some minor but important amendments. The following amendments are designed to ensure that academic as well as clinical responsibilities are discussed and reviewed formally at least once a year:

  • For Clinical Lecturers, The ARCP form will be completed by the individual and his/her academic mentor in advance of the ARCP. A copy of this form will be passed to the ARCP panel to help inform discussions. To enable this to happen the completed report must be submitted to Anne Stewart, Graduate School Administrator, one month prior to the formal ARCP.

    • This report must also be undertaken for Clinical Research Fellows who hold honorary StR status and are not studying for a higher degree.
  •  Clinical Research Fellows who are studying for a higher degree will be required to follow the standard reporting system relevant to their degree and academic information will be made available to the ARCP panel.
  • In addition to the relevant academic reporting process, it is anticipated that the individual and his/her academic mentor have regular informal discussions throughout the year to ensure that performance and development are openly discussed and to ensure that development needs are being effectively addressed.
  • An academic university representative (usually the academic mentor) will sit on the ARCP panel to ensure that academic issues can be meaningfully discussed.


It is recognised that there can be significant competing pressures on the time of clinical academic staff and it is envisaged that the ARCP is a suitable forum to discuss the division of time between academic and clinical responsibilities. The key aim in such a discussion should be to achieve a satisfactory balance and to encourage joint working to integrate separate responsibilities.

Further Information

Please refer to the following sites for full details of the ARCP scheme, section 7:

For further advice on how the ARCP operates please contact your clinical or academic mentor, NHS Education for Scotland, or the Graduate School Administrator at the University's School of Medicine.

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