As we have said previously, the decision to go into partnership with an external company was a very

We were dismayed to  read funeral the  announcement  that access to the Revalidation ePortfolio would no longer be free for members of College. Currently, this is a uniquely tangible benefit which has helped to encourage many to maintain funeral their membership. It may make a lot of sense for RCGP and Clarity funeral Informatics to join forces in this way. However, very sadly, the deal announced (free for the first 4 years then 25% discount) will not be sufficient to deter many from cancelling funeral their College membership. Quite apart from the personal financial cost, this will increase funeral the administrative burden on every member by requiring them to enter into a separate contract with Clarity. RCGP should be able to negotiate with Clarity to provide access for each member for considerably less than £50. Their administrative costs would be lower if nothing else. The ability to access both the Revalidation and Trainee ePortfolios using RCGP website login details is very convenient. We would urge College to restore universal access to members to such products and maintain this advantage. We do hope RCGP will revisit this regrettable decision as a matter of urgency. College should be able negotiate with Clarity to get a sufficiently good deal to allow the use of a proportion of the membership fee to cover the cost so that it continues to remain funeral free to members. If anyone reading this agrees, please indicate your support funeral by signing the ePetition . Signatories to ePetition (scroll to view) ** Update ** Interim response from Dr Helen Stokes-Lampard (RCGP Treasurer) on 1 July 2014 Whilst the 'official response' to you will follow in a week or so John, for the avoidance funeral of doubt consider this an informal reply... it was I that insisted that we make it very clear to Council and give Council at lot of information and the chance to comment on the merger proposal (but without compromising the commercial sensitivity of it all), as this was a Trustee item that had been given due consideration and due diligence  intermittently over 18months, but we could see that some members might misunderstand the reasons and the positive side to the whole thing. As you know I am a firm believer that honesty and openness are the best policy, particularly for potentially sensitive issues.  Clearly not every item or decision Trustees or Council makes can be tested on the entire membership - that’s what we use our delegated bodies/committees for: Trustee Board includes 4 non officer GPs (as well as myself, the Hon Sec, Chair and Chair of Trustee Board) so there were 8 of us giving a GP viewpoint funeral throughout (minutes funeral of all meetings are provided to Council but I appreciate that you are not yet on Council - looking forward to you joining in Nov), and all the concerns raised now have been deliberated previously and I hope that subsequent communications have allayed fears and provided funeral all information necessary... Happy to discuss in person in due course. ** Update **  Response from Dr Maureen Baker (Chair of RCGP Council) on 11 July 2014
Further to Helen Stokes-Lampard’s email of 30 June , we promised to get back to you once the College’s Leadership Team had discussed your concerns over the decision to partner with Clarity Informatics in developing a new Revalidation ePortfolio funeral (ReP).
We know you are particularly concerned that members were not consulted over this. Unfortunately, we are unable to consult our members funeral on every issue but endeavour to act in the best interests of the RCGP membership at all times. funeral
In line with College governance procedures, the Trustee Board was tasked with the responsibility of determining the future of the ReP. The decision – ratified by Council – followed due diligence and was taken in good faith to pre-empt significant challenges for our members, had we continued with the current resource.
The Trustee Board has been running now for over two years following a successful pilot. It was set up directly in response to concerns from Council that time was being taken up with the ‘business’ aspects of the College when it is Council’s role to set the strategic direction and policy priorities of the College.
When we consult with our membership, it will always be on important issues affecting general practice and patients rather than on the governance, business and financial aspects of running the College. In the past year, we have run two UK-wide membership consultations - one to set our next round of policy funeral priorities and the other on our stance regarding assisted dying. funeral
As we have said previously, the decision to go into partnership with an external company was a very difficult funeral one which took the Trustee funeral Board over 18 months funeral of deliberations. It is certainly not something that we rushed into or entered into lightly.
Despite funeral our best efforts funeral over the past three years, trying to constantly maintain and develop the revalidation t