RCPCH endorsement

How to seek endorsement

We offer endorsement for the following resources - select the link to see the relevant guidance and application process:

• Clinical guidelines
• Educational programmes and courses (including eLearning)

For other resources, send the following information to us at governance@rcpch.ac.uk:

• full details of the product or service you are wanting us to endorse
• text of any materials you wish us to assess – in particular, full text of any guidelines
• telephone and email details of a person whom we can contact if we need any more information

We will send an acknowledgement email and will clarify how long the process will take and any charges to cover our costs before we start to assess your product or service.

Principles of endorsement

RCPCH can assess for endorsement only those requests that are directly relevant to paediatrics and child health.

1. The resource must have been developed with appropriate involvement from paediatric or child health experts. Reviewers will use their judgement to determine whether appropriate involvement and expertise has been used.
2. The resource must have a direct application to paediatrics and child health.
3. The standards/quality criteria will be different for each type of resource to take account of the different purpose, structure, format and content of each resource.
4. Each resource will be reviewed by a separate, appropriate, expert review panel, selected by RCPCH. The panel may comprise internal staff only or may include clinicians. 
5. The endorsement of any resource is time limited and will be allocated for a prescribed period of time specific to the resource, as outlined in the resource criteria, after which point a resource provider will be invited to seek re-endorsement or asked to remove RCPCH endorsement from its materials and the resource will no longer be included on the relevant section of the RCPCH website.
6. Retrospective endorsement, for example after the resource has been created, will be possible only for specific resources, as outlined in individual criteria. For example, clinical guidelines may seek endorsement after development has begun; courses may not seek CPD approval after the course has run.
7. Any known conflicts of interest involving the resource developer must be stated.
8. There has been no commercial bias or influence on the content of the resource.
9. Endorsement of another organisation’s product must not contravene the College’s existing policies on commercial sponsorship (1999) and ethical fundraising (2012).
10. The resource is not or will not be sponsored or co-sponsored by arms and tobacco companies or organisations which exploit children and young people or promote values in opposition to the ethos of the RCPCH.
11. Guidance from the RCPCH will stipulate what endorsement allows the resource developer/owner in relation to marketing statements, branding and quality review mechanisms. (A specific endorsement brand exists for those resources which carry full endorsement. This will be a modified version of the existing College logo only used for endorsed resources). No use of the existing RCPCH logo is permitted.
12. Approval for endorsement rests with the relevant expert review panel created per resource, ratified by the appropriate College (divisional or otherwise) committee. It is not anticipated that endorsement decisions will require ratification by Council, unless expressly requested by the SMT member/Chair of the College committee.

The endorsement process will only apply to resources outlined above. Any other resource will not be considered eligible for endorsement under this policy.

Use of RCPCH brand without permission

The use of the RCPCH brand identity and logo is not permitted without written permission from the RCPCH. Accordingly, we reserve the right to request removal of the endorsed logo from any material (printed or electronic) which contains it without our written permission.

Also see Rights and permissions for reuse of RCPCH-copyrighted material