Invited review service

Our invited review service is designed to help employers, commissioners and managers provide safe and sustainable services that improve outcomes for women’s health.

What is an RCOG invited review?

We regularly receive requests for reviews of obstetric and gynaecology (O&G) services from organisations that provide, plan or commission O&G services and have concerns about:

• Patient safety
• A healthcare organisation’s ability to provide effective training in O&G
• Workload issues
• Aspects of delivery of a whole service
• Potential for service redesign/configuration

We provide 2 types of review:

• Service review: carried out in response to an invitation to visit and comment on a current service, including meeting the clinical team, managers and other stakeholders, with a focus on safety and quality.
• Configuration review: carried out when commissioners and healthcare organisations need clinical assurance of proposals for significant changes to local O&G services.

Case studies

For examples of the kind of guidance the RCOG can provide to help you deliver improved patient outcomes, please read our case studies.

Becoming an assessor

We are now recruiting for Invited Review Assessors.

If you are an experienced obstetrician and/or gynaecologist and would like to know more about becoming an assessor for the RCOG invited review service (including criteria and benefits), please contact invitedreviews@rcog.org.uk.

CPD for external assessors

External assessors on invited reviews, ARCP panels and deanery visits can claim 5 credits per visit or panel. If you are an external assessor for service reviews, deanery visits and ARCP panels, the maximum number of credits claimable in each 5-year CPD cycle is 25 across the three kinds of activity.

What are the benefits of an RCOG invited review?

The key benefits of RCOG invited reviews are:

• Clear procedures and templates to focus the review
• Experienced obstetric and/or gynaecology assessors providing clinical assurance, perspective and breadth of knowledge
• Formal involvement of additional experienced clinicians in midwifery, anaesthesia, neonatology and surgery, if required
• Quality-assured report endorsed by the RCOG (please note that the RCOG will send a copy of the report to the organisation's health care regulatory bodies)
• Follow-up of the recommendations and action plans.

Who can request an invited review?

We welcome enquiries from healthcare organisations (usually the Medical Director or CEO) and Responsible Officers. We are happy to discuss, in confidence, how the RCOG can help you and to determine the nature and extent of assistance required, without obligation.

Contact us

Please contact invitedreviews@rcog.org.uk or +44 20 7772 6240 to find out more about the RCOG invited review service and how we can help.

For more information about the service, please read the document below:

For further information, please read the RCOG invited review service appendices.