RCPsych: Who should complete Assessments (WPBA)

This advice is taken from the RCPsych Silver Guide.

• Assessors do not need to have prior knowledge of a resident doctor when completing a WPBA, but they should be a Consultant, Specialty Resident doctor, Associate Specialist, or Senior Nurse, Psychologist/Allied Health Professional (AHP) or Social Worker who feels confident to assess the case.
• For CT1/ST1-CT3/ST3 resident doctors; nurses, psychologists/Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) and social workers at band 7 or equivalent (e.g., grade 9 for social workers) can be assessors.
• For ST4-ST6 resident doctors; nurses, psychologists/AHPs and social workers at band 8 or equivalent (e.g., grade 10 for social workers) can be assessors.
• CT1/ST1-CT3/ST3 resident doctors cannot assess each other, and ST4-6 resident doctors cannot assess each other but ST4-ST6 resident doctors can assess core resident doctors.
• Resident doctors should try and use a range of different assessors (ideally a different one for each assessment).

As always, we would recommend that resident doctors check with their Psychiatric Supervisor if they are unsure about the suitability of a particular assessor.

Royal College of Psychiatrists (2022), Psychiatry Silver Guide,: Guidance for Psychiatric Training in the UK V2.0. Royal College of Psychiatrists.

In the Portfolio, all Assessors need to have a, free, account registered with the email address the assessment is to be sent to. They can register here.