Welcome from Mersey Faculty
We support over 2,400 members, Fellows, AiTs and students across Merseyside and Cheshire in their career and continued professional development.
The Mersey faculty covers the following areas:
- Liverpool
- Wirral
- Sefton
- Knowsley
- Halton and St Helens
- East & West Cheshire
- Isle of Man
We offer a wide range of CPD training opportunities throughout the year for all our members as well as non-members of the college. Please view the link below for all our latest events. We also offer training opportunities to groups of 12 or more delegates on specific topics on request. Please contact the Mersey office for further information.
View all CPD learning and social events in Mersey
Faculty Board
Our Faculty board meet four times per year in February, June, September and November and is made up of GP volunteers and Lay representatives. We also have representation from local groups such as student's groups, First 5 and AiTs.
We rely on volunteers to play an active role locally, give views, feed in information from local groups and shape local general practice via the Mersey Faculty board. The board also feeds into RCGP Council meetings at national level where the thoughts and views of local GPs are often sought at board level.
The board have a number of opportunities for you to become more active with the local faculty, for example, committees, council representatives, First 5 lead, AiT lead, Education advisor and Officers of the board.
We are keen to encourage local GPs to become members of the board and play an active role in the faculty. If this is something you would consider then please contact the Mersey office at mersey@rcgp.org.uk.
Faculty Officers
Dr Michael Van Dessel, FRCGP Provost
- Professor Steve Cox, FRCGP Chair
- Dr Kathryn Harrison, MRCGP - Deputy Chair
- Dr Shiv Pande, FRCGP - Honorary Treasurer
- Dr Kishor Vithlani, FRCGP - Education Lead
- Dr Andrew Spooner - Council Representative
- Dr Jonathan Griffiths, RCGP - Deputy Council Representative
Faculty Board members
- Dr Farah Burki
- Dr Niall Campbell
- Dr Pusbar Grocock
- Dr Simon Hargreaves
- Dr Simon Kan
- Dr Surendra Kumar
- Dr Joanne Makin
- Dr Abhinandan Mantgani
- Dr Rena Ohri
- Dr Simon Tobin
- Dr Jonathan Wilmott
- Dr Abdul Zubairu
Co-opted members
- Dr Humera Hasan, RCGP - First 5 Lead
- Dr Emily Kendall - AiT lead
- Vacant - Deputy AiT Lead
- Sophie McArthur - Student Representative
- Mrs Lorinda Swift - Patient Lay Representative
Faculty news and social media
Mersey Faculty have a very active social media following and we encourage links to local news and events from the Mersey faculty region. It is highly recommended to follow the Mersey social media pages at Facebook @rcgpmerseyfaculty and Twitter @RCGPMersey to find out about all the latest news, events and offers available local to you.
Note: We often have special offers available through our social media pages
Mersey Faculty is always keen to hear about local news. If you have a local story that you would like to share with other local GPs then please contact the Mersey office.
Upcoming events
The Faculty offer a wide range of events throughout the year including Minor Surgery, Neurology, Medico-Legal, Joint Injections, Child Health, ENT, Dermatology and much much more. We will always endeavour to keep the cost of events as low as possible for our members and sometimes we can offer events free of charge if we have support from sponsors. In 2019 we will be introducing a series of evening CPD events designed for the busy GP. Look out for all our event dates below.
We also have a range of social events which often are free to attend. These include members dinner, Fellows dinner, annual awards and AiT events.
View all events that we currently have available
Faculty initiatives
Peer Groups
RCGP Mersey Faculty have a number of peer groups that you can attend free of charge. View all the local groups [Word] across your region.
If you would like to set up a peer group in your area please contact the Faculty office for advice.
Annual Awards 18 October 2019
The Mersey Faculty Annual AGM and Awards evening is held every October at Liverpool Football Club conference suites. We encourage all local GPs to consider the awards on offer to all general practice employees. The nomination process is simple. An application pack and form can be downloaded below. Deadline for submissions can be found in the pack and is usually late August.
Please view the link below for full information about the awards and how to nominate a colleague. Please contact the Faculty office if you have any questions about the process.
Annual awards currently available to all general practice employees across Merseyside and Cheshire include:
- GP Award
- Practice Manager Award
- Practice Team Award
- Practice Nurse Award
- Primary Care Lifetime Achievement Award
- The Eric Toke Patient Care Award
- Audit Prize
- Primary Care Eco Award
Mersey Faculty Awards application form [PDF]
Bursaries
Each year, RCGP Mersey Faculty sets aside a bursary fund to support local GPs and primary care teams with additional training and development.
With a value of up to £1000, these bursaries are available to any primary care team wishing to run education or support events in the Mersey Faculty area. Bursaries can be used for venue hire or speaker/professional fees.
Applications for the 2019-2020 financial period are open from 10 January to 28 February 2019. Applications will be assessed by the Mersey Faculty Bursary Committee and all applicants will be informed of the outcome by the close of March 2019.
Who is eligible?
- Active member of RCGP in the Mersey Faculty area.
- First5 or AiT group in the Mersey Faculty area.
- Undergraduate Society, particularly related to general practice, currently studying in the Mersey Faculty Area.
- Medical practice within the Mersey Faculty area.
Application Process
Completion of application form to be submitted to:
RCGP Mersey Faculty office at Mersey@rcgp.org.uk or post to:
RCGP 114 Mount Pleasant
Liverpool
L3 5SR
Deadline for applications is 28 February 2019.
- Applications are to a maximum of £1000.
- Successful applicants will be informed of the Committees decision by email no later than 31 March 2019. Unsuccessful applicants will also be informed of the committees decision by this date.
- The decision of the Faculty Bursary Committee will be final.
- Only one application per year will be considered.
Criteria
Applicants must be one of the following:
- Active member of RCGP in the Mersey Faculty area.
- First5 or AiT group in the Mersey Faculty area.
- Undergraduate Society, particularly related to general practice, currently studying in the Mersey Faculty Area.
- Medical practice within the Mersey Faculty area.
The event must be for the benefit of GPs or the wider primary care medical team.
- The event must be for the further education/support or medical teaching benefit of members of the primary care team.
- We will consider applications to support room hire or speaker/professional fee hire.
- We will not pay for speaker travel expenses, printing of paperwork or catering.
- We will not support social events.
- We are not responsible for quality of teaching, venue and any associated health and safety risks.
- Bursaries will only be paid to the venue or the speaker direct and not to the organiser/individual.
- RCGP branding can only be used in support of funding.
Successful Applicants must:
- Acknowledge RCGP Mersey Faculty bursary whenever appropriate within your advertising of the funded event/activity.
- Payment of bursaries will be paid upon receipt of invoices from the venue or speaker/professional at the Mersey Faculty office.
- Speakers/professionals must be able to provide an invoice or relevant unique tax reference (UTR).
Note: We will not pay speaker travel expenses, catering, refreshments, printing costs or purchases of equipment.
RCGP National Conference / WONCA Europe bursaries
Additionally, RCGP Mersey Faculty offers 2 bursaries of £250 for Mersey AiTs to attend the RCGP National Conference (to be held in Liverpool in October 2019) and two bursaries of £250 to support members of the Faculty in attending the WONCA European Conference (to be held in Bratislava in June 2019).
Associate in Training support (AiTs)
RCGP Mersey Faculty are in a very lucky position to have two pro-active AiT Leads:
- Dr Emil Kendall - AiT Lead
- Vacant - Deputy AiT Lead
AiT Leads offer a supporting role as mentors so if you are an AiT in the Mersey area and need a bit of help or advice please contact the Mersey office who can put you in touch with the AiT leads. The Leads also actively seek to improve life for young GPs by sourcing and arranging CPD and liaising with the faculty to provide support where needed.
First5 support
Dr Humera Hasan is the current Mersey Faculty First5 Lead.
Below are some resources you may find useful. If you have recently qualified and are now a First5 GP please view the welcome back below for lots of useful hints and tips.
We also have a number of peer groups available for you to attend where you can speak to other like-minded GPs.
- Welcome Pack 2019 [PDF]
- Peer group information and contact details 2019 [PDF]
First5 CPD resources
The variety and amount of electronic resources out there can be both overwhelming and difficult to navigate in searching for relevant information. Below is a collection of commonly used and established resources that may help you in finding answers to your PUNS, DENS or just general learning needs.
- First5 CPD resources [PDF]
First5 appraisal and revalidation
- NHS Toolkit
- RCGP Revalidation update page and access to the Revalidation Portfolio
First5 career
Further information on First5
Fellowship
Fellowship is an honor and mark of achievement recognising a significant contribution to:
- health and welfare of the community
- science or practice of medicine
- aims of RCGP, or any organisation which benefits general practice
Full details of applying for fellowship can be found at RCGP fellowship. If you are unsure about any part of fellowship or want to know more about the process RCGP Mersey have a team of volunteers on hand who have been through the process themselves to answer your questions.
Please contact the Mersey Faculty for more information or visit the RCGP fellowship page.
Contact us
RCGP Mersey Faculty
Liverpool Medical Institution
114 Mount Pleasant
Liverpool
L3 5SR
T: 0151 708 0865
E: mersey@rcgp.org.uk
Opening hours
Office opening hours: 09:00 – 15:00, Monday to Friday
Your local Faculty Administrator is Sarah Adams.
Your Events Administrator is Adam Taylor.
Join us
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