The RCP Chief Registrar Programme is our flagship leadership development programme for senior resident doctors who are committed to quality improvement.
The chief registrar role is a senior leadership role for doctors. This programme develops the clinical leaders of the future and supports chief registrars to ensure NHS organisations deliver the highest quality of treatment and care for patients.
One of the key recommendations highlighted by the Future Hospital Commission report was the need to create a senior leadership role for resident doctors, which would focus on delivering high-quality, safe patient care.
The RCP responded by establishing the Chief Registrar Programme. The role provides protected time for senior resident doctors to practise leadership and quality improvement while remaining in clinical practice. The role is supported by a bespoke 10-month development programme designed and delivered by the RCP.
Chief registrars:
- provide a vital bridge between senior clinical leaders, managers and the wider resident workforce
- address local challenges and priorities around service improvement, education and training, engagement and morale, workforce and sustainability
- collaborate across teams and traditional boundaries to deliver better outcomes for patients, teams and services, increasing efficiency and reducing costs.
Expressing an interest
Expressions of interest for 2025/26 are now open until 3 March 2025.
Before starting recruitment, NHS organisations should complete an expression of interest form and return it to chiefregistrar@rcp.ac.uk to reserve a provisional place(s) on the Chief Registrar Programme. If we do not receive an expression of interest, we will not be able to reserve an indicative place for a chief registrar from your organisation.
You can submit an expression of interest by completing our online form using the link below. Upon submission, we will contact you regarding next steps within one week.
If you require a downloadable form instead, please fill out this form. Once completed, please email it to chiefregistrar@rcp.ac.uk.
Once an indicative place has been reserved, and you have received confirmation from the Royal College of Physicians, your organisation can then proceed to recruit a chief registrar. Once all the indicative places have been allocated, organisations will be placed on a waiting list and offered an indicative place when one becomes available.
The RCP has expanded the Chief Registrar Programme to all physician and non-physician specialties in response to demand. We encourage you to take an organisation-wide overview of which departments your chief registrar(s) will be located in.
Expression of Interest (EOI)Recruitment
Expressions of interest for 2025/26 are now open until 3 March 2025.
Local recruitment will be running until mid-June 2025 (deadlines decided individually at trust level). If you are interested in applying for a role, please see this list of posts by trust.
To find out more about our upcoming programmes, as an NHS organisation or resident doctor, please email chiefregistrar@rcp.ac.uk.
Key recruitment criteria:
- Open to all physician and non-physician specialties.
- For doctors who are at ST4+ or equivalent.
- Posts must be for a minimum of 12 months.
- Doctors in training must have 40-50% of their time protected for chief registrar activities.
- The role may be carried out in programme or out of programme (training or experience).
What the programme involves
The 10-month programme consists of five 2-day modules taught by RCP educationalists and experts in quality improvement.
Modules will be spread over the course of the programme and cover the following topics:
- change management
- team culture and development
- quality improvement
- leadership
- influencing
- personal resilience.
As a result of the development programme, chief registrars will:
- gain aptitude and confidence as senior leaders
- achieve a deeper understanding of their own and others’ styles
- have the technical knowledge and skills to lead continuous quality improvement
- be invited to join the Chief Registrar Alumni Network, where you can meet other chief registrars from different year groups, attend exclusive webinars and workshops and continue to engage with the RCP.
Hear from participants
Dr Wakana Teranaka attended the Chief Registrar Programme 2023 – 24. Hear why she decided to join the programme and how the Chief Registrar Programme supported her in her role in the videos below.
- Why did you decide to take on the role of a chief registrar and join the programme?
- How has the Chief Registrar Programme supported you in your role?
- What impact do you think you had in the organisation?
- How did the programme support you to implement a QI project in the workplace?
Watch the full conversation here.