Nationally Coordinated Clinical Radiology Recruitment in England and Wales

2011 Application Guidance

Contents

1. How to apply and the Clinical Radiology national recruitment portal

2. Enquiries

3. Eligibility

4. Right to work in the United Kingdom

5. Fitness to Practise process

6. FoundationCompetences

7. References

8. Expressing Preferences

9. Deferred Entry

10. Shortlisting

11. Interviews

12. Offer Process

13. Clearing

14. Round 2

PLEASE ENSURE YOU READ AND FULLY UNDERSTAND THE CONTENTS OF THIS GUIDANCE BEFORE SUBMITTING YOUR APPLICATION

1. How to apply and the Clinical Radiology national recruitment portal

  • In 2011, Clinical Radiology recruitment to programmes in England and Wales will be managed via a nationally coordinated process.
  • Applications open at 10 am (UK local time) on 6 December 2010 and close at 12 noon (UK local time) on 20 December 2010. No late applications will be accepted.
  • An advert will appear in the BMJ and NHS Jobs, as well as deanery websites, advising interested applicants to visit the national portal of application –
  • All applications must be made via the national recruitment portal,hosted by London Deanery using the nationally agreed application form.
  • Information regarding the deaneries and programmes will be available to applicants via , as well as on individual deanery websites.
  • In addition, indicative post numbers for each deanery will be made available when applications open.
  • To register with the recruitment portal you must ensure you have a valid email address.
  • Communication between London Deanery and applicants will be primarily via email. Applicants should check their email account a minimum of once every 48 hours.

2. Enquiries

Applicant enquiries regarding the process* should be sent via email to

* Enquiries regarding interviews should be managed through each local deanery

3. Eligibility

Before beginning your application it is important for you to determine whether you are eligible to apply. Applicants must meet certain eligibility criteria in order to be considered for specialty training. These criteria are in place to meet legal and other requirements and will be assessed during the longlisting/shortlisting stage.

It is important to note that your application is likely to be rejected prior to the shortlisting stage should you fail a criterion assessed at longlisting.Please refer to the person specification which is available on the Medical Specialty Training websitefor full details

These criteriainclude:

  • MBBS or other equivalent medical qualification
  • Eligible for full registration with the GMC at time of appointment and hold a current licence to practice.
  • Minimum of 2 years of postgraduate medical experience by August 2011 (equivalent to that obtained in a UK Foundation Training programme)
  • Evidence of achievement of Foundation competences between 31st July 2008 and 3rd August 2011 from a UKFPO affiliated Foundation Programme or EQUIVALENTby time of appointment
  • Eligibility to work in the UK
  • Fitness to practice
  • Sufficient language skills (e.g. IELTS)
  • No more than 18 months training or experience in Clinical Radiology, not including Foundation modules, by August 2011

4. Right to work in the United Kingdom

  • Some applicants may be considered before others on the basis of immigration status, in accordance with guidance from the UK Border Agency. If you require Tier 2 Sponsorship in order to take up the offer of a place on a training programme and you are subject to the Resident Labour Market Test, your application will not be considered in this round of recruitment.
  • Applicants in this category should consider re-applying in any further round of recruitment to this speciality.
  • If shortlisted, applicants will be required to produce their original documents (passports, page with the stamp and letter from the Home Office) on the day of their interview
  • Applicants should refer to UK Border Agency website,

for up to date information regarding the

right to work in the UK

5. Fitness to Practise process

  • Applicants who answer “yes” to one or more of the ten questions listed on the application form under the Fitness to Practise section must provide full details via emailto by the closing date of application. In this email please indicate clearly the question(s) to which you have provided a positive response.
  • Failure to do so may result in your application being withdrawn.
  • For full details of the Fitness to Practise process please see Appendix I

6. Foundation Competences

In order for you to submit an application for a CT/ST1 Specialty training programme, you must demonstrate that you have either undertaken a UK Foundation Programme; or you have achieved foundation year two competency within the last 3 years; or you are currently in active clinical or clinical academic practice; or in a CT/FTSTA/LAT/ST post or equivalent where attainment of foundation competences was assessed on appointment.

Please ensure that you have read the guidelines regarding Verification ofAchievement of Foundation Competency at before you completethe competences section of the application form and answer each question honestly and accurately. Only standardevidence of achievement of foundation competence will be accepted.Evidence may include; FACD 5.2 Certificate, Alternative Certificate A or Alternative Certificate B. Any other evidence will not be considered.

Applicants will be asked a series of questions within the application form to ascertain whether they meet the foundation competence requirements.Please refer to the relevant person specification and

for further information. Depending on an applicants response to the specific questions they will be informed:

  1. If they are eligible
  2. Whether they need to provide evidence
  3. At what point the evidence should be provided; either by close of application or upon request at any stage of the recruitment process

The documentation provided by candidates will be reviewed by the London Deanery recruitment team, with input from clinical colleagues if required, during the recruitment process. London Deanery reserves the right to retain the documentary evidence supplied by candidates if there is a query about the documentation.

7. References

Deaneries will not be contacting your referees for a reference. You will berequired to bring your completed references from your referees with you on theday of interview. You will be required to provide references for eachinterview you attend.

  • Please let your referees know that you are applying for this post, and that you

will be asking them to complete a reference form.

  • A reference form to pass to your referees for completion can be downloaded via
  • You must provide completed reference forms from three referees who have supervised your clinical training, spanning three years of your employment or undergraduate training. They must be able to comment, from experience, on your ability and suitability for the post.
  • One referee must be your current or most recent consultant or educational supervisor familiar with your clinical development.
  • Your referees must match those stated on your application form.
  • Please ensure these details are correct as you will be unable to begin in post until references are supplied and checked
  • It is your responsibility to ensure that references are provided on the day of your interview. Forms must be handed to Deanery staff in attendance upon request.
  • References must be in a sealed envelope clearly labelled with your full

name.

  • A random 20% of references provided will be subject to audit, whereby the

authenticity of referee details and content of reference forms will be verified with referees

8. Expressing Preferences

  • The application form asks candidates to rank deaneries in order of preference, excluding any they would not be prepared to accept. Applicants will also be able to indicate if they have no preference.
  • If an applicant excludes themselves from a deanery at this stage they will not be considered by that deanery in later stages of the process including clearing. Applicants should only rank deaneries in which they are prepared to train and should ensure that they understand the full nature of the programmes on offer and their geographical location.
  • Applicants must rank each of the deaneries 1 – 14 (where 1 is the first choice preference and so on) on the preference sheet as part of the application form.
  • To state you do not wish to be considered for a deanery, applicants must mark an X against the deanery.
  • Where an applicant has no preference a 0 (zero) should be marked against the deaneries. In instances such as this, applicants are stating they wish to be equally considered for deaneries marked with a 0 (zero) and are prepared to train in any of those geographies.
  • Applicant preferences will not be used as a shortlisting criterion.

9. Deferred Entry

  • As per the guidance documented in The Gold Guide the start of training may only be deferred on statutory grounds such as maternity leave, ill health.

10. Shortlisting

  • Shortlisting will be conducted as one single national exercise, made up of consultants representing each of the training programmes nationally.
  • Shortlisting will be held on 10 – 11 January 2011.
  • Scorers will not have access to applicants’ preferences and these will not be used as a scoring criterion.
  • Applications will be scored and ranked using theperson specification and nationally agreedscoring framework.
  • In rank order of shortlist scores, applicants will be allocated to a maximum of twodeanery interview slots based on applicant preferences collected at the application stage.
  • If a first choice deanery is unavailable as all the slots have been taken by higher ranked candidates, applicants will be allocated to their second choice deanery and so on until all interview slots are filled or the limit of shortlistable candidates is reached (whichever comes first).
  • Applicants will be allocated to interviews at their highest ranked deaneries based exclusively on their shortlist score.
  • Those applicants who indicated no preference will be allocated to the deanery with the lowest percentage interview slots filled at that stage, based on popularity of applicant preferencing.
  • Applicants who have excluded themselves from a deanery(ies) at application stage will not be offered an interview slot in that deanery(ies). If these are the only available slots remaining, then no interview will be offered.
  • Whilst preferences will always be considered, the service needs of each deanery may also be a consideration when allocating applicants to interview slots.
  • Where there are tied scores at shortlisting, a weighted criterion on the following will be applied to differentiate between applicants in this order: Commitment to specialty; Other Information; Audit
  • Applicants will be notified via email, from week commencing 17 January 2011, by London Deaneryif they have been shortlisted for an interview(s).

11. Interviews

  • Interviews will be managed locally at each deanery, using a nationally agreed scoring framework and documentation.
  • The national interview window is 31 January - 11 February 2011.
  • An interviewee to postsavailable ratio of approximately 4:1 will be used across all deaneries, ie each deanery will offer approximately four times as main interview slots as it has posts available
  • Each interview will be a total of 40 minutes comprising 4 x 10 minute panels.
  • The panels are: Panel A - Achievements, Panel B – Abilities, Panel C- Aspirations and Panel D - Portfolio
  • For further details regarding each panel, please refer toAppendix II
  • Applicants must bring their portfolio with themto interview. Please note the portfolio station will be scored.
  • For details of the portfolio review process, please refer toAppendix III
  • Where there are multiple programmes in one deanery, applicants will be asked to complete a preference sheet, ranking the schemes/programmes available. Preference sheets will be available to download from each deanery’s website prior to interview. Please bring your completed preference sheet with you on the day of interview.
  • Applicants will be scored and ranked by the deanery panels.
  • Each panel will consist of two consultants
  • The scoring range for each criterion will be 0-3
  • The maximum total score from each panel is: A = 18 (x 2) total 36; B = 18 (x2) total 36; C = 18 (x 2) total 36; and D = 6 (x 2) = 12
  • The maximum total score an applicant can achieve is 120
  • A national minimum score of 72 needs to be achieved for an applicant to be considered for national clearing.
  • Anyone who scores below 72 will be deemed unappointable and therefore not eligible for clearing.
  • As well as scoring 72 or above, an applicant would need to score a minimum at each panel: Panel A = 12, Panel B = 12, Panel C = 12, Panel D = 4, in order to be eligible for clearing.
  • If an applicant scores 72 but does not meet the minimum for one or more panels they will be deemed unappointable and therefore not eligible for national clearing.
  • Important: Applicants will be asked to bring certain documentation with them to the interview stage. Failure to bring the specified documents may result in applicants not being interviewed. Any applicants with concerns over their ability to bring the required documents with them to interview should make urgent contact with the interviewing deanery in advance of the interview.
  • Full details of the documents required for interview can be found in AppendixIV. Please also refer to each deanery’s website as there may be local variations.

12. Offer Process

  • Following the completion of interviews, each deanery will inform the London Deanery:

Who is to be offered a post

Who are the “reserve” applicants

Who is deemed unappointable

  • Applicants may receive 0, 1 or 2 offers at Deanery / Programme level
  • The initial offers will be made from 28 February 2011.
  • Applicants will then have 48 hours (including weekends and bank holidays) to accept, rejector hold an offer
  • Candidates can hold only one offer (across all round 1 specialties) at a timeup until 25 March 2011
  • Applicants who have been found unappointable will be notified of this.
  • After the first 48 hours, the next phase of offers will be made.
  • Applicants will then have 48 hours (including weekends and bank holidays) to respond
  • Iterations of offers will then continue as and when an applicant declines a post.
  • If an applicant rejects all ofhis or her offer(s) (either one or two) he or she will be removed from the process and willnotbeeligible for clearing.
  • Once a post has been accepted, London Deanery will pass details to the local deanery.
  • Local deaneries will allocate applicants to trust, unit and confirm the start date.

13. Clearing

  • Clearing will be managed by London Deanery.
  • Clearing will take place after all iterations within a Deanery have been made and when there are still posts and no appointable applicants left to offer.
  • Applicants who have achieved the minimum national interview score but have not secured a programme during the offers period and have not rejected an offer of a programme during the offers period are eligible for clearing.
  • If an applicant was deemed unappointable in one deanery, but appointable in another, the applicant will be eligible for clearing, excluding the deanery where they were found unappointable.
  • Using the highest interview score obtained (if two interviews took place) applicants will be ranked to create an applicant order for clearing.
  • Based on original preferences collected at application, applicants will be matched to vacant deanery slots and offers will be made accordingly.
  • Offers will be made using 48 hour iterations until all posts are filled or the number of appointable applicants has been exhausted.

14. Round 2

  • If any further appointments to Clinical Radiology are required in 2011, this will be managed via local deaneries.

If you have any questions regarding the process for Clinical Radiology Nationally Coordinated Recruitment in England and Wales for 2011, please contact

Appendix I

Fitness to Practise process

Candidate answers “yes” to 1 or more of

10 FTP questions upon application

Candidate contacts confidentialCandidate does

enquiries at London Deanery bynot contact

application close date

Appendix II

Interview Scoresheets

Appendix II

NATIONAL CLINICAL RADIOLOGY RECRUITMENT 2011

Panel A (Achievements)

Maximum score for each criterion is 3 (Range 0 - 3)

Notes
Must be recorded if score = 0 / Score
(0-3)
Understands the basic principles and importance of research
Evidence of professional, academic and research achievement
Demonstrates understanding of the principles of audit
Demonstrates interest, skill and experience in teaching
Demonstrates insight into importance of research/teaching/audit to personal development/professional practice.
Communication skills
Total (max 18 points)

NATIONAL CLINICAL RADIOLOGY RECRUITMENT 2011

Panel B (Abilities)

Maximum score for each criterion is 3 (Range 0 - 3)

Notes
Must be recorded if score = 0 / Score
(0-3)
Clinical experience, knowledge and skills
Ability to prioritise workload and clinical need
Capacity to problem solve and think analytically
Demonstrates effective judgement and decision making skills
Experience of multiprofessional team working in radiology
Demonstrates a broad clinical knowledge base
Communication Skills
Total (max 18 points)

NATIONAL CLINICAL RADIOLOGY RECRUITMENT 2011

Panel C (Aspirations)

Maximum score for each criterion is 3 (Range 0 - 3)

Notes
Must be recorded if score = 0 / Score
(0-3)
Demonstrates a commitment to the specialty
Understands the personal challenges in changing from clinical practice to radiological practice
Demonstrates insight into the post they are applying for and shows evidence of knowledge of the training pathway leading to a CCT
Understands the practice of radiology in a modern healthcare setting
Demonstrates a realistic insight into a career in Radiology and an understanding of the challenges facing the specialty in the future
Communication Skills
Total (max 18 points)

NATIONAL CLINICAL RADIOLOGY RECRUITMENT 2011

Panel D Portfolio

Maximum score for each criterion is 3 (Range 0 - 3)

Notes
Must be recorded if score = 0 / Score
(0-3)
Demonstrate effective organisation and communication skills with appropriate portfolio documentary evidence.
Demonstrate correlative evidence with information supplied on application form and understanding of the role of the portfolio in professional development.
Portfolio checklist
Total (max 6 points)

Appendix III

Guidance for applicants - portfolio of documentary evidence

The interviewers may ask to see evidence of any item or activity which you have described in your application form, for example a course certificate or an audit presentation. Please see the below table for evidence which you will need to present (if appropriate) in your portfolio of documentary evidence.