STATEMENT & ADVICE TO RCPE MEMBERS ON JRCPTB FEES INCREASEDear Trainees and Members, On 26 April 2010 the JRCPTB circulated an announcement regarding a planned increase of training fees by over 20% (with effect from 1 June 2010). The Trainees and Members’ Committee (T&MC) is surprised and dismayed by the announced rise in fees, which is considerably above that which could be expected by inflation. The T&MC were not consulted on the fees rise, and were unaware of the decision until the JRCPTB statement was circulated. Other trainee groups, including the Trainees Committees at the other Royal Colleges and the BMA JDC were similarly in the dark. This compromises our ability to function as a trainee representative group, and as such we are taking this matter extremely seriously. Alongside our colleagues in the above trainee groups, we are working towards securing formal assurances that trainees will in the future be consulted in discussions regarding any future fees increases (pertaining both to training and examinations) from early stages, before decisions are made. The T&MC are actively involved in all arenas of College work and are disappointed that this appears to have been an exception. We continue to provide representation to all internal Committees, the BMA JDC, JRCPTB, GIM SAC, and the Scottish Academy and work closely with other trainee representative groups via the Academy Trainee Doctors Group. We acknowledge that communication between JRCPTB and trainees can be suboptimal, and will continue to support trainees in this matter by providing summaries of, and shortcuts to, important JRCPTB and other training related issues on our webpage and via Twitter. We would like to remind Trainees who are currently paying their JRCPTB training fees by instalments linked to RCPE membership subscriptions that they can, at any time, choose to discontinue paying their training fees in instalments by settling their outstanding balance with JRCPTB immediately. Those wishing to do so before 1 June 2010 should complete the following steps:
JRCPTB will then advise the RCPE that you have paid your JRCPTB fees in full and to request that your next invoice from the RCPE is for membership subscription only and does NOT include JRCPTB fees. However, and in order to save time, it may be advisable to send an e-mail to the RCPE (r.combe@rcpe.ac.uk) confirming this point Please note that the RCPE membership subscription year commences on 1 July. The procedure for collecting these subscriptions, along with JRCPTB fees for those who have chosen to pay by instalments alongside membership, will commence in late May/early June 2010. As such, there is a possibility that such changes to the method of payment may not be included in this subscription run if instructed close to this date. We would, therefore, encourage those Trainees wishing to change their method of payment to do so as soon as is possible. We would also highlight that no trainee should pay for more than 5 years of Higher Specialist Training (SpR/ST3+), even if time is spent out of programme (these fees are collected in fixed instalments over the lifetime of your training). We hope that this information has been of assistance and urge trainees who are experiencing any related difficulties or who have further concerns to contact us directly. Finally, the T&MC has formally written to the JRCPTB outlining these concerns and will update our membership via the website when we receive a response. Warm regards, Kerri Dr Kerri Baker Statement from Dr Neil Dewhurst, President, Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh Dr Neil Dewhurst, President
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