Specialty trainers

It is a regulatory requirement that before a pharmaceutical physician can become an educational supervisor in pharmaceutical medicine they must be recognised for the role by the Pharmaceutical Medicine Deanery. A potential educational supervisor must satisfy the eligibility criteria below and confirm that they can commit to performing the role.

Eligibility

The applicant must:

– hold GMC registration with a licence to practise

– be an FPM member, and

– be entered on the GMC’s specialist registration in pharmaceutical medicine or has acquired at least five years’ experience as a pharmaceutical physician and can demonstrate the necessary breadth of experience in pharmaceutical medicine.

Commitment

The applicant must be willing to:

– undertake introductory training before full recognition and GMC approval as an educational supervisor, and then afterwards attend update sessions every two years or as required;

– be an educational supervisor for a pharmaceutical medicine trainee throughout their training at the training site, recognising the time commitment that this entails;

– provide on-going supervision and monitoring of trainees’ performance in accordance with the GMC’s Good Medical Practice;

– attend each ARCP;

– provide support, if required, for a reasonable period (e.g. 12 months) after the trainee has been awarded an ARCP outcome 6 to ensure that the trainee is entered on to the GMC’s specialist register; and

– be fully engaged in the revalidation process.

If an applicant is satisfied that they meet the eligibility criteria and can fulfil the commitment of the role, must complete and submit the online Educational Supervisor application form.

If the deanery approves the application, the applicant will receive provisional recognition. To gain full recognition and to have their name submitted to the GMC for approval as an educational supervisor for the PMST programme, the applicant must attend the ‘Introductory Workshop for Educational Supervisors and Associate Educational Supervisors’.

The dates for the workshops are listed below.

The applicant will receive full recognition as an educational supervisor after they:

• complete a pre-session workbook, which is a requirement for attending the workshop;
• attend the introductory workshop; and
• complete a post-session assignment.

The prospective educational supervisor’s name will be added to the GMC’s list of approved specialty trainers and the GMC will add the role on the pharmaceutical physician’s entry on the its medical register. The new educational supervisor must renew their role every four years.

The pharmaceutical physician must declare their role as an educational supervisor as part of their wider scope of practise for revalidation purposes. Please read the GMC’s Recognising and approving trainers: the implementation plan.

The educational supervisor must demonstrate that they are keeping up to date in their role and meeting the GMC’s standards for trainers. Educational supervisors are advised to read and use the deanery’s educational supervisor professional development framework for guidance on the type of supporting information to collect and write reflections about. The deanery recommends educational supervisors use the educational supervisor self-review record to record their activities.

Visit our list of resources below to download the documents above.

The associate educational supervisor has a similar role and similar responsibilities to an educational supervisor and can act as a signatory on most PMST documents and attend Annual Review of Competence Progression (ARCP) meetings with his or her pharmaceutical medicine trainees.

However, the associate educational supervisor must have a nominated educational supervisor to counter-sign rated capabilities in practice (CiPs) and to complete the educational supervisor report on the trainee e-portfolio.

A potential associate educational supervisor must satisfy the eligibility criteria below and confirm that they can commit to performing the role.

Eligibility

Qualifications

A potential associate educational supervisor:

– must hold a medical or scientific degree, i.e. BSc, MSc, PhD; or

– is or has been a registered health professional.*

*A health professional has the same meaning as in section 204 of the Data Protection Act 2018.

Experience

A potential associate educational supervisor must:

– have a minimum of five years’ experience in the pharmaceutical industry and can demonstrate the necessary breadth of experience in their specialty associated with pharmaceutical medicine.

Commitment

An associate educational supervisor must be:

– willing to undertake introductory training before deanery approval as an associate educational Supervisor, and then afterwards attend update sessions every two years or as required;

– willing to be an associate educational supervisor for a trainee throughout their training at the training site, recognising the time commitment that this entails;

– willing to provide on-going supervision and monitoring of trainees’ performance in accordance with the GMC’s Good Medical Practice;

– willing to attend each ARCP;

– willing to provide support, if required, for a reasonable period (e.g. 12 months) after the trainee has been awarded an ARCP outcome 6 to ensure that the trainee is entered on to the GMC’s specialist register for pharmaceutical medicine; and

– actively undertaking Continuing Professional Development (CPD) in their specialty associated with pharmaceutical medicine.

If an applicant is satisfied that they meet the eligibility criteria and can commit to performing the role, must complete and submit the online Associate Educational Supervisor application form.

If the deanery approves your application, the prospective associate educational supervisor will receive provisional approval. To gain full approval as an associate educational supervisor for the PMST programme, you must attend the ‘Introductory Workshop for Educational Supervisors and Associate Educational Supervisors’. The dates for the workshops are listed below.

The deanery will grant the applicant full approval as an associate educational supervisor after they:

1) attend the introductory workshop; and

2) submit a short written assignment after the workshop.

Associate educational supervisors must renew your role every four years.

The deanery is responsible for:

– training and approving individuals as associate educational supervisors

– training and recognising individuals as educational supervisors

– applying to the GMC to approve recognised educational supervisors, and

– renewing the approvals of associate educational supervisors.

The Specialty Training Manager will send the specialty trainer a link to an online specialty trainer renewal form several months before the end of specialty trainer’s four-year term. The specialty trainer must complete all sections of the renewal form and submit it by a date set by us.

It is important that the specialty trainer completes their renewal form in full and submit it by the submission deadline or otherwise there is a risk that the deanery will withdraw their status as a specialty trainer.

The Specialty Training Manager will receive and check the specialty trainer’s completed renewal form and check that the specialty trainer has met all seven domains before the deanery 1) applies to the GMC to renew the specialty trainer’s status as an educational supervisor or 2) renews the specialty trainer’s status as an associate educational supervisor. The Specialty Training Manager will send the Deanery Executive Group (DEG) a report on the number of educational supervisors and associate educational supervisors who have had their status renewed and the details of specialty trainers who have not completed all seven domains.

The Specialty Training Manager will ask the DEG to make one of the following decisions if a specialty trainer has not met all seven domains at the end of their four-year term:

1. Additional time

2. Apply to the GMC to withdraw educational supervisor approval

3. Withdraw associate educational supervisor approval.

Please see below a table containing descriptions of each of the decisions.

The specialty trainer can request that the deanery reconsider its decision to have their status as a deanery-approved associate educational supervisor or a GMC-approved educational supervisor removed. The specialty trainer must send a written request with supporting evidence (if any) to the Specialty Training Manager within ten working days from the date they were notified that their status as an approved specialty trainer was removed. The Specialty Training Manager will normally acknowledge receipt of the request within three working days.

The DEG the will normally consider the request within two weeks from the date it was acknowledged, but it could be longer if a member of the DEG needs to be replaced because they have a conflict of interest for example.

The DEG is composed of the postgraduate dean for the Pharmaceutical Medicine Deanery, the chairperson of the Specialist Advisory Committee on Pharmaceutical Medicine (SAC) and FPM’s Director of Specialty Training. If a member of the DEG has a conflict of interest, then the Specialty Training Manager will find a replacement from either the deanery’s pool of Specialty Advisers or from the membership of the SAC.

The DEG does not need to meet in person and will normally meet by teleconference or videoconference. The DEG may invite the specialty trainer to attend the meeting.

The DEG’s decision is final and there is no further appeal process.

All potential specialty trainers must complete:

1) either the online Educational Supervisor application form or the Associate Educational Supervisor application form;

2) complete and submit a pre-workshop assignment;

3) attend the ‘Introductory Workshop for Educational Supervisors and Associate Educational Supervisors’; and

4) complete and submit a post-workshop assignment.

An individual can relinquish their role as an educational supervisor or an associate educational supervisor either by declaring it on their completed online renewal form or notifying FPM’s Specialty Training Manager.

An individual can re-apply to have their role as a specialty trainer re-instated by completing the online Educational Supervisor application form or the Associate Educational Supervisor application form.

If an individual re-applies more than three years after relinquishing their role or after the withdrawal of their status as an approved specialty trainer, then they must attend the ‘Introductory Workshop for Educational Supervisors and Associate Educational Supervisors’. The individual will be required to pay the registration fee – currently £95 – to attend the workshop.

All specialty trainers must maintain a portfolio of evidence that demonstrates that they are keeping up to date in their role and are meeting the GMC’s seven domains for approved specialty trainers.

Specialty trainers must submit an online renewal form, at the appropriate time, indicating the domains they have completed. All domains should be completed by the end of the four-year cycle. Failure to submit a completed renewal form may lead to the individual’s status as a specialty trainer being removed.

Newly approved specialty trainers are not required to attend the mandatory effective educational supervisor session in the same year that they attended the introductory workshop. However, they are welcome to attend the session if they wish.

The deanery will provide specialty trainers access to the online renewal form to complete.

The deanery will also provide specialty trainers regular training to keep up to date in their roles. Information about this training will be posted on FPM’s website.

If a specialty trainer is unable to perform their role due to ill health, they must notify the deanery as soon as possible. It might be appropriate for the specialty trainer to relinquish their role until they are fit to continue.

The GMC is responsible for approving educational supervisors in specialty training based on confirmation from the deanery or local Health Education England (HEE) office that the doctor has met the their requirements to be recognised as an educational supervisors.

Some of the reasons that the deanery may send a request to the GMC to withdraw its approval of a pharmaceutical physician as an educational supervisor are listed below:

The educational supervisor has:

1) relinquished the role voluntarily

2) relinquished their licence to practise

3) not met all seven of the GMC’s domains for trainers by the end of the specialty trainer’s four-year term, or

4) declared that there are concerns about their fitness to practise.

The deanery may withdraw its approval of an individual as an associate educational supervisor if they have:

1) relinquished the role voluntarily

2) not met all seven of the GMC’s domains for trainers by the end of the specialty trainer’s four-year term, or

3) declared that they are not in good standing with their professional body or regulatory authority.

These lists are not exhaustive and there might be other reasons why the deanery decides to either 1) request that the GMC withdraw its approval of a pharmaceutical physicians as an educational supervisor or 2) withdraws its approval of an individual as an associate educational supervisor.

A specialty trainer can request that the deanery reconsider its decision to have their status as an approved specialty trainer removed. The specialty trainer must send a written request with supporting evidence (if any) to the Specialty Training Manager within ten working days from the date they were notified that their status as an approved specialty trainer was removed. The Specialty Training Manager will normally acknowledge receipt of the request within three working days.

The Deanery Executive Group (DEG) will normally consider the request within two weeks from the date it was acknowledged, but it could be longer if a member of the DEG needs to be replaced because they have a conflict of interest.

The DEG is composed of the postgraduate dean for the Pharmaceutical Medicine Deanery, the chairperson of the Specialist Advisory Committee on Pharmaceutical Medicine (SAC) and FPM’s Director of Specialty Training. If a member of the DEG has a conflict of interest, then the Specialty Training Manager will find a replacement from either the deanery’s pool of Specialty Advisers or from the membership of the SAC.

The DEG does not need to meet in person to consider the request and will normally meet by teleconference or videoconference. The DEG may invite the specialty trainer to attend the meeting.

The DEG’s decision is final and there is no further appeal process.

GMC-approved ESs in pharmaceutical medicine can act as external ESs for other pharmaceutical medicine organisations. The ES should ask their employer for permission to work for other organisations before making any commitments.

The ES and the potential commissioning organisation are responsible for agreeing the terms of the ES’s service agreement/contract, which includes rates of pay.

Neither FPM nor the deanery are responsible for:

– negotiating, setting or agreeing rates of pay;

– providing template contracts/service agreements or advising on appropriate clauses for a contract/service agreement; or

– meditating in contractual disputes between the ES and the pharmaceutical medicine organisation.

We will maintain a list of external ESs that can be sent to pharmaceutical medicine organisations on request. An ES who would like their name added to the list, should first read the conditions for using the list, which are located in the resources section above, and then complete and submit the online questionnaire.

The deanery will review its policies on the management of specialty trainers on an annual basis. We welcome your feedback on these policies as part of our review process. Please send your comments and suggestions to the Specialty Training Manager.