Regional Specialty Advisers
The roles of the RSA
Regional Specialty Advisers (RSAs) are the regional representatives of The Royal College of Radiologists (RCR) with respect to education and training and are accountable to the Medical Director, Education, and Training.
They provide a vital role and work cooperatively with the RCR, their local office, and the GMC to provide advice and support in their own region and carry out the role of external adviser, providing independent review and quality assurance of the ARCP process outside of their own region.
External role:
RSAs assist in the quality assurance of training in other regions by acting as an external adviser, providing independent, but specialty-specific, feedback on the ARCP process, the evidence provided to support this process (including the quality of educational and clinical supervisors’ reports), and ARCP outcomes.
RSAs fulfil the role of external adviser by attending ARCP panels in at least one other region to observe the ARCP process, providing a review of outcomes and the evidence supporting these, as laid out in the Gold Guide. They submit a structured report to the RCR and the region visited, and work with other RSAs to highlight and share good practice, and improve the consistency of the ARCP process across regions.
Internal role:
Within their own region, RSAs are local experts on RCR curricula, assessment, and requirements for progression. They contribute an independent perspective to local quality assurance processes, facilitate communication between the RCR and training programmes in their region, and support trainees, training programme directors (TPDs), and heads of school (HoS).
Advisory Appointment Committee role:
RSAs are asked to act as the RCR representative on advisory appointment committees (AACs) to quality assure the recruitment and appointment of consultants, specialty doctors and associate specialist posts.
This involves reviewing role descriptions the posts and making recommendations in accordance with RCR guidance, also ensuring that any job plans reviewed include provision of appropriate support, particularly where the role includes training responsibilities.
External role:
RSAs assist in the quality assurance of training in other regions by acting as an external adviser, providing independent, but specialty-specific, feedback on the ARCP process, the evidence provided to support this process (including the quality of educational and clinical supervisors’ reports), and ARCP outcomes.
RSAs fulfil the role of external adviser by attending ARCP panels in at least one other region to observe the ARCP process, providing a review of outcomes and the evidence supporting these, as laid out in the Gold Guide. They submit a structured report to the RCR and the region visited, and work with other RSAs to highlight and share good practice, and improve the consistency of the ARCP process across regions.
Internal role:
Within their own region, RSAs are local experts on RCR curricula, assessment, and requirements for progression. They contribute an independent perspective to local quality assurance processes, facilitate communication between the RCR and training programmes in their region, and support trainees, training programme directors (TPDs), and heads of school (HoS).
Advisory Appointment Committee role:
RSAs are asked to act as the RCR representative on advisory appointment committees (AACs) to quality assure the recruitment and appointment of consultants, specialty doctors and associate specialist posts.
This involves reviewing role descriptions the posts and making recommendations in accordance with RCR guidance, also ensuring that any job plans reviewed include provision of appropriate support, particularly where the role includes training responsibilities.
RSA vacancies
Applications are invited from Fellows and members of the Faculty of Clinical Radiology of The Royal College of Radiologists for appointment as Regional Specialty Advisers for the following regions:
- North West Thames
- North East Thames
- Kent, Surrey & Sussex
- North West
- Mersey
- North East - Northern
- Northern Ireland
- Scotland North - Grampian
- South West - Peninsula
These posts provide a great opportunity for consultants with experience of the delivery and organisation of training in the UK (e.g. as an educational supervisor or training programme director) to impact and improve the quality of training in their region and nationally.
Please see the role description for further details on the main responsibilities, time commitment, and appointment process.
Applications are invited from Fellows and members of the Faculty of Clinical Oncology of The Royal College of Radiologists for appointment as Regional Specialty Advisers for the following regions:
- Mersey
- Northwest
- Oxford
- Scotland-East
These posts provide a great opportunity for consultants with experience of the delivery and organisation of training in the UK (e.g. as an educational supervisor or training programme director) to impact and improve the quality of training in their region and nationally.
Please see the role description for further details on the main responsibilities, time commitment, and appointment process.
Application procedure
Applications should be made by submission of a completed application form to [email protected]. Applications will be considered by the Medical Director, Education, and Training, and where there is more than one applicant a panel scoring process will be used to rank candidates.
Appointments are for a term of three years. A maximum of two consecutive terms can be served.
We would encourage any interested consultants to discuss their application with the current RSA for their region and the local Specialty Training Committee (or equivalent). The role of RSA should not normally be combined with that of the training programme director, head of school or departmental lead clinician/clinical director.
If you have any questions, please contact [email protected]
Who is my RSA?
| Region | RSA |
|---|---|
| North West London | VACANT |
| North East Thames | VACANT |
| South London - South East Thames | VACANT |
| South London - South West Thames | Dr Lisanne Khoo |
| Kent, Surrey, & Sussex | VACANT |
| East of England | Dr Justin Cross |
| East Midlands | Dr Yvette Griffin |
| Mersey | VACANT |
| North West | VACANT |
| North East - Northern | VACANT |
| Northern Ireland | VACANT |
| Thames Valley - Oxford | Dr Nia Taylor |
| Scotland East - Tayside | Dr Shilpi Pal |
| Scotland North - Grampian | VACANT |
| Scotland South East | Dr Su Reddy |
| Scotland West | Dr Bappa Sarkar |
| South West - Severn | Dr Tim Saunders |
| South West - Peninsula | VACANT |
| Wales | Dr Suzanne Vaughan |
| Wessex | Dr Elizabeth Rutherford |
| West Midlands | Dr Mark Blakeman |
| Yorkshire & The Humber - Yorkshire North | Dr Claire Exley |
| Yorkshire & The Humber - Yorkshire South | Dr Ruth Batty |
| Region | RSA |
|---|---|
| East Anglia | Dr Konstantinos Geropantas |
| East Midlands | Dr Rengarajan Vijayan |
| London | Dr Gillian Marks |
| Dr Samantha Forner | |
| Mersey | VACANT |
| North West | VACANT |
| Northern | Dr Eleanor Aynsley |
| Northern Ireland | Dr Jolyne O'Hare |
| Oxford | VACANT |
| East Scotland | VACANT |
| West Scotland | Dr Carolynn Lamb |
| South West (Peninsula) | Dr Ian Fraser |
| South West (Severn) | Dr Audrey Cook |
| Wales | Dr Mick Button |
| Wessex | Dr Rachel Wilkinson |
| West Midlands | Dr Andrea Stevens |
| Yorkshire | Dr Mandip Khaira |
RSAs play a vital role in the quality assurance of training in the UK:
Our specialty training
Learn more about how the College sets the standards and curriculum that lead to the award of a Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT) and entry onto the GMC's Specialist Register.
