The Association of Palliative Medicine and the Federation of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of the UK are seeking to appoint a new Chair of the Palliative Medicine SCE Standard Setting Group.

The successful applicant will Chair meetings of the Standard Setting Group and have overall responsibility for ensuring a pass mark is agreed to the appropriate standard. The Chair will lead discussions and evaluate each item to ensure the quality of questions is high and of an appropriate standard. They will also be responsible for the appointment and training of group members and monitoring of their performance.

A full list of the post’s responsibilities is set out in: The Responsibilities and Duties of Members of the MRCP(UK) and SCE Standard Setting Groups. In addition a copy of the remit and responsibilities of the examining board can be found on the MRCP(UK) website.

Applicants should meet the following criteria to be eligible to apply:

• hold the MRCP(UK) or an equivalent postgraduate diploma
• be practising as a specialist in palliative medicine, and a member or fellow of one of the three Colleges
• be registered with a licence to practise and in good standing on the GMC specialist register
• be actively engaged in the training of junior doctors in the UK (or within the last two years)
• be up-to-date as appropriate with relevant national guidelines, CPD requirements, employer’s equality and diversity training and appraisal process

In addition, it is a requirement for members of the Palliative Medicine SCE Standard Setting Group that they fulfil one or more of the following criteria:

• Be a member of the Question Writing Group or the appropriate Examining Board
• Have considerable knowledge of the examination
• Have experience of standard setting and question writing in an academic environment
• Have an understanding of the principles behind criterion referencing and the Hofstee method, statistical methods used and interpretation of analyses performed on individual items
• For this position experience of SCE SSG membership is desirable.

This is a non-salaried position though all reasonable expenses and travel costs will be met by MRCP(UK) Central Office in line with the Federation expenses policy. The tenure of the appointment is five years.

Applications for the post, including a CV and one-page covering letter outlining your suitability for the post should be submitted to The Policy Office (policy.officer@mrcpuk.org) by 17:00pm 30^th October 2019.

All applications will be considered by a panel consisting of the Chair and representatives of the Examining Board.

The next Palliative Medicine Standard Setting Group will take place on 18 & 19 June 2020 and the successful applicant will be required to attend. The Palliative Medicine Standard Setting Group will take place at Royal College of Physicians of London.