Story 3
My Motives
I initially got the idea from an article in the West Midlands
faculty newsletter, and I then spoke to Dr Richard Moore (the
previous faculty fellowship lead), to my appraiser, and to
colleagues in my practice, all of whom encouraged me to apply. My
motives were mixed. A sense of achievement and of having
reached a more senior level within the profession was important to
me. I am in a small partnership and in these more
competitive and commercial times people in my practice felt
that being a fellow of the College might indicate to outsiders that
the practice had experienced 'heavyweight' people which might give
a positive impression. Another consideration was that it could look
good on my personal CV if I was applying for external posts or jobs
in the future, although I have no plans to look for a new job.
The Process
The process of preparing the application proved to be
time-consuming than I had anticipated. I estimate it took
20-30 hours. It took surprisingly long to write
the drafts of my statements, and then to amend each of them
several times until I was happy with the final versions.
Checking dates and facts, liaising with referees and
revising the drafts following referees' comments, all took time.
Some of my circumstances changed between writing the first drafts
and the final versions so that sections had to be altered so that
they were accurate at the time of submission. I was grateful for
the time that the referees gave in assessing the statements.
Development
My 2007 appraiser had encouraged me to apply for the
fellowship, so it was the top item on my PDP produced after the
appraisal, and therefore my main development work for the year. On
this basis I spent a couple of days study leave from the
practice working on the application and received further practical
support from the practice e.g. supplying data that I needed for the
statement. I would definitely advise future applicants to discuss
it with their appraiser, to make it top priority on their
post-appraisal PDP, and use this to help negotiate support
from their practice.
A Mid-Career Stock-Take
Apart from the main benefit of being awarded the Fellowship,
the process itself has been valuable. For me it turned into a
mid-career 'stock-take'. When I had to write down all the things I
had done I surprised myself by the amount I had achieved. Having a
review of my work described in such detail is a very good tool for
assessing my development and learning needs. My appraisal in
2008 was with a new appraiser. My personal statements formed a
large part of the material I supplied for the appraisal, and
meant that I didn't need to do much preparatory work for the
appraisal and the discussion was particularly profitable as
the new appraiser had such a comprehensive summary of my work. I
think the College could definitely tell potential applicants that
the process of applying for fellowship is a useful development tool
and makes a substantial contribution to appraisal.
Dr Paul D'Urso