FAQ 02 · How do I build an MRCPsych portfolio outside core training?

If you're not in a core training post, your MRCPsych portfolio is the part that takes longest, and it's the part you can't rush in the last month. The good news is that it isn't a mystery: the College's curriculum and the Silver Guide tell you what to collect. Here's how I'd go about it.

Where to keep it

Start with the platform, because it's changing. The College's training portfolio has been Portfolio Online. From August 2026 the College is moving resident doctors to a new platform, FourteenFish, and it opens no new Portfolio Online accounts for resident doctors starting from then.

So ask before you start. Access depends on your College membership, and if you're outside a training post you may need affiliate membership: the membership team will advise. The College asks doctors who are not in training to send ePortfolio access questions to eportfoliotransition@rcpsych.ac.uk.

Whatever the platform, keep your own copy. I'd export or save every signed form as you go. Your sponsor, and later any ACE signatory, must be able to see them.

Start from the curriculum

My advice is to build the portfolio from the curriculum, not from whatever forms happen to come your way. The College's Core Psychiatry curriculum sets nine High Level Outcomes (HLOs). Each is broken into key capabilities (KCs) that a trainee should reach by the end of CT3. The HLOs cover:

1. professional values and behaviours;

2. communication, clinical skills, and complexity and uncertainty;

3. legal and organisational frameworks;

4. health promotion and illness prevention;

5. teamworking and leadership;

6. patient safety and quality improvement;

7. safeguarding;

8. education and training;

9. research and critical appraisal.

Read the KCs once, early. They'll tell you which experiences to look out for in the job you're already doing.

Then map as you go. Link each assessment and reflection to the HLOs it shows. The College has mapped the gradings in each assessment form to the HLO themes, so most of your forms will cover more than one.

If you look, you'll spot the gaps early. Teaching, audit and research (HLOs 6, 8 and 9) are the ones it's easy to leave until last, so I'd start those first.

Workplace-based assessments

The Silver Guide, the College's guide to psychiatric training, recommends these numbers per year of core training:

That's 16, 17 and 18 a year. The Silver Guide notes that the two PACEs, one for each psychotherapy case, can be done whenever appropriate.

A few details are worth getting right. Patient and carer feedback is now required at least once in core training, from the College's formative assessment changes of August 2026. For a Mini-PAT, nominate 10 to 12 colleagues across roles: it needs at least six responses to be valid. And don't mix up the two ACEs: here it means the Assessment of Clinical Expertise, not the ACE form for ST4 applications.

The regulations don't set a number for doctors outside training. Your sponsor judges whether your evidence is equivalent. If I were you, I'd aim to meet the core training numbers across three years anyway. It's the simplest way to leave your sponsor no doubt. Our free [ARCP and portfolio checklist](https://mrcpsychiatrist.com/arcp-decision-aid) counts your forms against these numbers, year by year.

Track what's pending

Keep a tracker. For each form, I'd record the type, date, assessor, HLOs covered and status: requested, chased, signed.

Unsigned forms are the commonest gap, so chase them politely. A short reminder after a week or two is normal.

Spread your assessments out. They're formative and meant to happen throughout the year, not in a rush before you apply.

And write a line of reflection. A form with a short reflective note, and evidence of what you changed, counts as evidence of critical self-reflection.

Psychotherapy

You'll need two cases in two modalities: a short case of at least 12 sessions (usually 12 to 20) and a long case of at least 20 (usually 20 to 40), each in a different type of therapy.

A psychotherapy case supervisor supervises each case. A Medical Psychotherapy Tutor, a consultant with a CCT in medical psychotherapy or equivalent, oversees psychotherapy training on each core scheme. Your supervisor completes the SAPE. The Medical Psychotherapy Tutor, or their delegate, completes the PACE that confirms the case is complete.

Core trainees also attend a Balint or case-based discussion group for about a year, usually 30 groups, assessed by CbDGA.

If you're outside a scheme, I'd ask your local scheme's Medical Psychotherapy Tutor or College tutor early whether you can take a case and join a group. Private supervision can cost money, so ask about fees before you commit.

ECT

The Silver Guide recommends giving ECT under direct supervision by the end of CT3, recorded on a DOPS.

The ST4 ACE form asks for at least one ECT session attended, with knowledge shown, or a referral for ECT with the paperwork. My advice: arrange a session with your ECT clinic and have it assessed while you're there.

Child, adolescent or learning disability work

Don't treat this as a nice extra. It's a condition: the regulations require competence in developmental psychiatry, meaning child and adolescent psychiatry or learning disability. The core rotation recommends six months in one of the two.

If your job has neither, ask about a placement, regular sessions in a local team, or your next post. Plan it well before your sponsor reviews your portfolio.

Official sources

• [Eligibility Criteria and Regulations, MRCPsych Exams](https://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/docs/default-source/training/examinations/exams-eligibility-criteria-and-regulations---may-2025.pdf?sfvrsn=83f28e63_62): Section 1, the CASC and Overseas Candidates and UK Candidates not in a GMC approved training programme

• [Core Psychiatry curriculum (August 2022)](https://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/docs/default-source/training/curricula-and-guidance/2022-curricula/core-psychiatry-curriculum-final-17-august-2022.pdf?sfvrsn=36b5ba25_10)

• [Psychiatry Silver Guide, version 2.0](https://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/docs/default-source/training/curricula-and-guidance/2022-curricula/silver-guide-version-july-2026.pdf): core psychiatry training, Medical Psychotherapy Tutor, workplace-based assessment and Appendix 4

• [Information on your ePortfolio](https://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/training/eportfolio)

• [Formative Assessment changes, August 2026](https://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/training/curricula-and-guidance/formative-assessment)

• [Applying for Higher Training (NHS England)](https://medical.hee.nhs.uk/medical-training-recruitment/medical-specialty-training/psychiatry/higher-psychiatry-training/overview-of-higher-psychiatry-training/applying-for-higher-training), for the ACE form