Paediatric sub-specialty training - application guidance

Updates - please read first

• 1 August 2025 - The Applicant Guidance for the 2026 round is available in the Downloads box below.
• 11 July 2025 - The Scoring for Sub-specialty Shortlisting 2026 is available in the Downloads box below.

Changes for the 2026 round

Longlisting

The Confirmation of Eligibility Form is enhanced with the additional request for:

• three examples of clinical activities/experience from your career to date that show your interest in your chosen sub-specialty and demonstrate understanding of what is required to work in this area, and
• your most significant quality improvement project (QIP) or audit to date.

Examples must be the same as those on the Oriel application form.

Supporting evidence from your ePortfolio must be uploaded for each example in section 2 of the form so it can be verified by your Educational Supervisor. The RCPCH Medical Recruitment team will also check evidence in longlisting.

Shortlisting

1. The wording of the scoring criteria and glossary sections have been reviewed and simplified or made clearer across all sections, but the awarding of marks hasn’t changed.
2. The number of drop-down boxes in the QI/Audit section has been reduced.
3. You should not use the same example for more than one scoring section. (The only exception is in the publication/presentation/poster section, where the example can refer to the answers used in either the QI/Audit or Research sections.)
4. Evidence of publication/presentation/poster example must be uploaded to the application form on Oriel. There is only one acceptable format for presenting this evidence - please refer to the glossary section, at the end of this document for criteria.

Timeline for 2026

Dates are subject to change.

*Trainees must submit the Confirmation of Eligibility form to their deanery contact at least a week before the RCPCH deadline to give them enough time to complete their section of the form. If it is sent less than a week before they may use their discretion to accept it or not. It is the trainee's responsibility to ensure they give enough time for all stakeholders to complete their section of the form and it is submitted to the RCPCH by the deadline. Late forms will not be accepted.

Interview dates - TBC

What sub-specialty posts can I apply for?

The programme summaries and individual job descriptions for the 2026 round will be available to view via a SharePoint link, which will be published here on 8 October 2025.

Who can apply for sub-specialty training?

All applicants should ensure that they meet the criteria listed below in order for their application to be considered. Paediatric sub-specialty training is available for all trainees in the UK Paediatric Training pathway, along with some specific exceptions for trainees from related specialties, as detailed below.

There are no personal specifications for individual sub-specialties.

Applications that do not meet these criteria will be longlisted out of the process

Eligibility criteria: RCPCH trainees, RCPCH academic trainees, ROI paediatric trainees

Eligibility criteria: Other allied medical specialties

There is no requirement for trainees in other allied medical specialties to have MRCPCH examinations or the paediatric capabilities listed in the RCPCH trainee eligibility criteria, but they should be aware of their own essential requirements.

All Anaesthetic, Intensive care medicine (ICM) and Emergency medicine (EM) trainees need to demonstrate the following by submitting a completed Confirmation of Eligibility form for Anaesthetic, ICM & EM PGDiTs 2026 available in the Downloads box below

Trainees outside of a UK/ROI training programme

Applications from those outside of a UK/Republic of Ireland training programme are not eligible to apply. Please look at available options on our page for international doctors looking for opportunities in the UK.

If a doctor has training, qualifications and experience in paediatrics but has gained these partly or completely outside of an approved CCT training programme (for example, they have trained outside the UK or Republic of Ireland, moved abroad or taken a career break) and they are looking to join the GMC Specialist Register, they may be eligible to apply for the Portfolio Pathway.

Trainees from outside of a UK/Republic of Ireland training programme may be eligible to apply to core paediatric training and then apply to sub-specialty training once in the UK training programme.

Sub-specialty recognition

It is not possible to gain 'dual accreditation' in more than one specialty. CCTs will be in Paediatrics. On completion of sub-specialty training, the particular sub-specialty will appear in brackets after the primary specialty Paediatrics on the Specialist Register. Only trainees who have been approved for sub-specialty training within the sub-specialty recruitment process may have a sub-specialty listed on the Specialist Register.

Please see more information about sub-specialty recognition here.

Indicative training time

Sub-specialty training is capability-based and programmes are typically two to three years indicatively. Applicants must ensure they have enough time to complete the required capabilities before their agreed CCT date, as it cannot be changed to accommodate sub-specialty training.

For those applying with less than the indicative time in their chosen sub-specialty remaining before CCT, it is possible to use evidence of a maximum of one-year WTE specialty level training, UK experience or equivalent (OOP Pause or OOP Training) to ensure eligibility. This evidence must have been approved by the relevant CSAC Chair prior to the application process. N.B. Evidence of prior experience does not guarantee success in the recruitment process. There is no guarantee that capabilities will be counted towards future progress in training and they will still need to be evidenced once in a sub-specialty programme.

Applicants are required to email the relevant CSAC Chair for approval and upload the approval email as evidence to their Confirmation of Eligibility form on ePortfolio/RISR. Please see the Evidencing prior experience for sub-specialty training document in the Downloads box below for the type of relevant experience that is accepted. 

How many times can I apply to do sub-specialty training?

Trainees are not limited in the number of attempts that they can apply to sub-specialty training, subject to having enough time left before their CCT date and can count up to one year WTE towards training.

How many sub-specialties can I apply for?

Applicants can apply for a maximum of two sub-specialties in each round. Separate application forms must be submitted for each sub-specialty.

Can I defer my place?

A deferral request will be accepted for statutory reasons only (e.g. parental leave or ill health). Applicants applying for deferred entry must put their intention to defer and their intended start date (if known) on their application form. We do not accept deferral requests for any other reason. This does not affect trainees applying while they are out of programme (OOP) or on parental leave if they meet the eligibility criteria, but trainees will not be able to defer to go OOP.

Please note that any requests for deferral that are made after or outside of the recruitment process timelines, either directly to the employing deanery or the RCPCH Medical Recruitment team are also subject to the same rules.

How do I apply?

Applications are made via the Oriel recruitment system.

• Access the Oriel system and register for an account with Oriel using the same email registered on ePortfolio
• Read the shortlisting scoring criteria thoroughly when completing the application. It contains all the details of the marking scheme and the maximum score for each assessment domain. It also contains the white space questions for each section, so applicants can start planning their answers in advance of the application window.
• It is recommended that applications be submitted at least 48 hours before the closing date to allow for any technical problems or unforeseen circumstances.
• Late applications will not be accepted under any circumstances. If technical problems are being experienced whilst submitting a form, the applicant must contact the RCPCH Medical Recruitment team as early as possible and at least an hour before the final deadline.
• Reasonable adjustments and special circumstances requests need to be noted on the application and the relevant form (available in the Downloads box below) completed and returned to the sub-specialty team.

Shortlisting scores do not contribute to the final score. They will determine if an applicant goes through to the interview stage. Applicants will be appointed based on their interview score and their preferences.

Confirmation of Eligibility Forms

All applicants need to submit a Confirmation of Eligibility Form to demonstrate their eligibility to apply to sub-specialty training. In preparation for this, applicants should have a formal careers discussion with their Educational Supervisor about how they have prepared for their chosen sub-specialty/ies and discuss the examples required below with them.

New for 2026 recruitment round - For each sub-specialty being applied to (maximum of two sub-specialties) applicants are required to include three examples of clinical activities/experience from their career to date that show their interest in their chosen sub-specialty and demonstrate understanding of what is required to work in this area. Applicants are also required to describe their most significant quality improvement project (QIP) or audit to date. Examples must be the same as what is going to be submitted in the Oriel application form - the College team will be checking this as part of longlisting.

Evidence from ePortfolio must be uploaded for each example, which will then be verified by their Educational Supervisor. There are no restrictions on what applicants can upload and from what point in paediatric training, provided it supports the examples. Types of evidence may include reflections, development logs, Case-Based Discussions (CBD), Mini Clinical Evaluation Exercises (MiniCex), etc. 

Note: Approval from the Educational Supervisor does not guarantee a maximum score at shortlisting.

The next sections have more information per type of trainee.

RCPCH trainees

Trainees need to ask their Educational Supervisor and local deanery (see the Downloads box below for the deanery contact list) to complete the Confirmation of Eligibility Form on RISR/ePortfolio before submitting an application.

To open a form once logged into ePortfolio, click on ‘create’ under ‘create a new event’ and the ‘Confirmation of eligibility form for sub-specialty training’ should be listed under 'whole timeline'. Click on the link to open a new form.

One form is needed for each applicant, not for each application, unless sub-specialty training experience is being counted towards different applications.

Applicants must make sure their Confirmation of Eligibility Form has been submitted via RISR/ePortfolio to the RCPCH Medical Recruitment team by Wednesday 12 November 2025 (same as the Oriel application deadline). The form does not need to be uploaded to Oriel. Any application submitted without a confirmation of eligibility form on ePortfolio will be longlisted out of the process.

Republic of Ireland (ROI) paediatric trainees

Trainees from ROI will need to complete the Confirmation of Eligibility Form for ROI PGDiTs 2026, available in the Downloads box below and email it to subspecialty@rcpch.ac.uk by the application deadline.

Anaesthetic, Intensive care medicine and Emergency medicine trainees

Trainees from these specialties are required to complete a Confirmation of Eligibility Form for Anaesthetic, ICM and EM PGDiTs 2026 and email it to subspecialty@rcpch.ac.uk by the application deadline.

Events

Paediatric sub-specialty careers event 2025

On 9 July 2025 the RCPCH Medical Recruitment Team held this online event across two sessions in the morning and afternoon. In the first hour of each session the team delivered a presentation on the recruitment process then representatives from each of the sub-specialties gave a short introduction on what it is like to work in their field. Both sessions ended with a Q&A. This recording has been edited to merge both sessions together, and so there may be some repetition in the Q&A.

Please check back here soon for future events.

Contact us

If you have any questions, please contact the RCPCH Medical Recruitment team:

• Email: subspecialty@rcpch.ac.uk
• Phone: 020 7092 6139