Update from Jonathan Brüün, RCoA CEO regarding the FRCA Final Written Examination

Following a mistake made during the issuing of results to candidates who sat the Final FRCA Written Examination in September, Mr Jonathan Brüün, CEO of the Royal College of Anaesthetists, issued a video apology to all those affected by the error.

Mr Brüün, on behalf of the College accepted that those involved had a right to voice concerns about their unacceptable exam experience. He empathised with the incredible pressures that this section of membership is already under, dealing with the demands of the pandemic, whilst managing training progression, and set out how he, along with the College, is working to rectify the situation and rebuild trust.

The College has written to all those affected by this error including College Tutors, Examiners, and representatives to ensure that they are equipped to offer support to any Anaesthetists in Training in need of it. Clinical Directors will also be made aware of the situation. 

The College has also escalated this incident to the Information Commissioner’s Office and will ensure that a timely response is shared with membership. Today, Mr Brüün will meet with Trustees to discuss what went wrong during this results process and the impact this has had. Mr Brüün has committed to updating membership on next steps and lessons learnt from this no later than the end of week commencing 11 October 2021.

Finally, the College is keen to ensure that the voices of those affected are heard at the highest levels and so a ‘listening event,’ is being planned to offer an open forum for discussion to help capture opportunities for us to improve our service to you. The date and time for this will be shared shortly. We acknowledge that we have fallen short on this issue, and we will do better. Our hope is that we can work together to deliver the level of service you should expect from your College.

If you would like to talk to a member of the Examinations Team about any aspect of this incident, please contact exams@rcoa.ac.uk.