Acting Up as a Consultant

‘Acting up’ under supervision provides final year trainees with experience to help them make the transition from trainee to consultant. A period of acting up offers trainees an opportunity to get a feel for the consultant role while still being under a level of supervision.

The post must be defined as acting up for an absent consultant, and cannot be used to fill a new locum consultant post or to fill service needs. Although SAC support is needed, further GMC prospective approval is not required as the competencies gained in acting up posts are embedded in the curriculum unless the acting up post is outside your home Deanery/LETB.

Please note that if the acting up post is outside your home Deanery/LETB, you will need to gain GMC prospective approval.

You may act up as a consultant if:

• You are in the final year of training
• Have passed the Intercollegiate Specialty Exam
• The post does not exceed a total of three months

Applying for SAC provisional support

You will need to forward to the JCST:

• Written confirmation of support from your Training Programme Director confirming the exact dates of the period and that the post is an existing, substantive NHS consultant post
• Confirmation that your Deanery/LETB is aware of the Acting up period
• The name of your consultant supervisor, who will be working in the same hospital
• Name of the absent consultant
• Up to date CV

This application should be submitted before starting the acting up post.

Competences achieved whilst in the 'Acting Up' post should be assessed by your ARCP panel.