Advisory Appointments Committees

  -Introduction

  -Information for Medical Staffing

  -Information for College Assessors

  -List of College Regional Chairs

Information for Medical Staffing

England

Job description approval

When drawing up job descriptions for all substantive Emergency Medicine posts you should consult with the Chair of the College Regional (or National) Board, who will provide helpful input on professional aspects of the role. The Chair of the Regional Board  should be contacted as soon as possible in the process of appointment and certainly prior to advertising the post. If your College Regional Chair works for your NHS Trust, please contact the Chair from a neighbouring region for job description approval.

The Chair of the Regional Board will provide comments and suggestions on the job description and selection criteria in writing within 3 weeks of its receipt. Failure to respond following confirmation of receipt should be interpreted as agreement.

After the job description has been agreed you should send the final version of the job description to the Chair of the Regional Board and copy to the College AAC administrator.

Please note that locum consultant appointments of less than 6 months initial duration are exempt from the AAC process. Certain other persons are also exempt from the AAC process. These persons are outlined in Annex D of The National Health Service (Appointment of Consultants) Regulations: Good Practice Guidance (January 2005). A copy is available to download here.

A list of the Chairs of the College Regional (and National) Boards is available here. Please contact the College AAC administrator should you require your Chair’s contact details.

College assessors for consultant AACs

Please note that the College currently does not provide external assessors for non-consultant post AACs.

When the job description for the post has been approved you should contact the College AAC administrator for a list of potential external assessors at least 6 weeks prior to the interview date. When contacting the College please provide the following information:

• The title of the post(s) including any subspecialty interest
• The number of posts being recruited
• State whether each post is a new or a replacement position
• The date of the interview
• A copy of the approved job description and letter of approval from the CRA if you have not already done so.

The College AAC administrator will provide you with at least 6 names of consultants in Emergency Medicine that have been approved by the College to act as external assessors and who are located in neighbouring regions. The College will aim to provide the list within 5 working days of confirming receipt of the request.

Once you have selected a College representative to act as external assessor please contact the College AAC Administrator with the name of the chosen assessor before the interview. The College will then contact the assessor with the latest College guidance.

The College regards the AAC process as an important component of maintaining and improving standards of practice in Emergency Medicine, and in planning for the workforce of the future. The College would be grateful if Medical Staffing teams could complete and return a short report on the outcome of each AAC once known. The form is enclosed with the list of assessors and is also available to download here.

Foundation Trusts

The College of Emergency Medicine is keen to work with Foundation Trusts in accordance with the Concordat between the Royal Colleges and the Foundation Trust Network (available to download here).

Contact information

All queries should be directed to the College AAC Administrator, Philip McMillan.

Direct Tel:   020 7067 1269

e-mail: philip.mcmillan@collemergencymed.ac.uk

Address:  AAC

The College of Emergency Medicine

Churchill House

35 Red Lion Square

London

WC1R 4SG

Northern Ireland

College assessors are provided as outlined for England.

Scotland

Medical Staffing Departments should contact two EM specialists from the National Panel of Specialists. One will review and approve the job description and both will serve on the AAC (only one is required for SAS posts). The list of specialists on the National Panel and latest guidance on the AAC process in Scotland is available at: http://www.sehd.scot.nhs.uk/

The process of Consultant appointments in Scotland is currently under review by the Scottish Parliament.

Wales