RITAs / ARCPs
Assessment of progress through training is carried out by a panel that reviews the trainee's written evidence for this progress.
Those in training as SpRs or SpTs will know this review as the Record of In Training Assessment or RITA. For those who entered training under the PMETB-approved curriculum as of August 2007 it is known as the Annual Review of Competence Progression (ARCP).
FPH guidance for ARCPs is still under development, but specialty registrars are encouraged to familiarise themselves with the detailed generic guidance in section 7 of the Gold Guide. StRs should present the documents in section 1 of their Professional Learning Portfolio for their ARCP.
Guidance for RITAs is given below.
Overview of RITA
Assessment of progress through training is carried out by a panel that reviews the trainee's written evidence for this progress. This evidence is known as the Record of In Training Assessment or RITA.
'Progress' means the continued acquisition of public health competencies throughout training. Evidence for this is demonstrated by passing of Faculty exams and successful in-work assessments of competencies.
As the purpose of the panel is to review the record of evidence, technically, it is not absolutely essential that it meets the trainee. However, most deaneries arrange for the panels to meet trainees so that they can explore any areas of doubt around the evidence.
The RITA panel determines whether a trainee has completed training satisfactorily. If a trainee completes training satisfactorily, then the panel makes a recommendation to the Faculty of Public Health for the issue of a Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT).
This is then referred onwards to the Postgraduate Medical Education and Training Board or the UK Voluntary Register for Public Health that make the ultimate decisions.
Organisation of RITA panels
Deaneries arrange for each trainee to be reviewed by a RITA panel. Trainees are normally reviewed annually. A new trainee would have a first review within 12 months of starting, but not usually earlier than 6 months.
All assessments must be consistent with the requirements laid out in A Guide to Specialist Registrar Training (orange book).
Providing the evidence
Trainees need to provide a portfolio of evidence to reflect what they have been doing since the last RITA panel and the competencies that they have achieved during that time. The panel will review this evidence and reach a view about progress in training.
The outcome of a RITA
Progress for most people is satisfactory and this is recorded by the panel issuing a RITA form C.
The RITA process, however, also provides a formal process whereby more specific and targeted help can be provided for trainees who are experiencing difficulty. In these cases the panel can recommend, for example, a period of focused training or that training be repeated in a particular area of work. Very occasionally, after other forms of support have not proved successful, it may be concluded that public health is not the specialty in which an individual is most suited and training should be discontinued.