RCGP awards honour to a psychologist

Professor Fiona Patterson (University of Cambridge), a Chartered Psychologist, has been awarded an honorary fellowship from the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP), reports the Society's monthly magazine The Psychologist.

The honour was awarded at the RCGP's Spring General Meeting, in recognition of her long-standing contribution to the UK GP Specialty Training recruitment process.

Professor Patterson has long been at the forefront of developing medical selection and recruitment. Her research in this area began in the 1990s with an analysis of the GP job role, which in turn led to the development of a competency-based selection system. She has continued to lead the development of the UK GP Specialty Training recruitment process to include the development of new tests focusing on key professional attributes such as empathy and integrity, using Situational Judgement Tests and an assessment centre methodology.

On receiving the award Professor Patterson said:

"Over the years, it's been an exciting partnership working in collaboration with senior leaders in general practice. I would like to extend my thanks for their support, enthusiasm and hard work that has allowed us to develop and continually improve a world-class recruitment process for GP training in the UK."