Since being granted our Royal Charter in 1599, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow has been improving health and healthcare for people around the world.

Today, we are a professional membership body providing education, assessment and development to more than 15,000 Fellows and Members at all stages of their careers. We are a UK organisation with a global membership.

Our estate in the heart of Glasgow city centre includes modern conferencing and events facilities, a rich and extensive heritage collection with museum status, a library and our multi-award winning events offering, 1599 at the Royal College.

Our purpose is built around delivering:

• Excellent education and outstanding member experience
• New standards through assessment and gold standard qualifications
• Transformative impact on the health and wellbeing of the wider world

Our vision:To build an influential global community that enables our Members to develop the skills, knowledge and influence to improve healthcare standards worldwide.

Our mission: We want to enable our Members to achieve their full potential as healthcare professionals and give them an influential voice in the world.

Our values:The College is not a building or a tradition, but a global community. In all that we do, we’re committed to putting our people first: Fellows and Members, those undertaking our education and assessment, colleagues and partners.

For us, how we work is as important as what we do, and we aim to live by our values. They embody the essence of the College motto, conjurat amice, meaning ‘together in friendship’. It’s an approach that is as relevant today as it was 425 years ago.

• Community Working together to support one another to succeed; listening to and engaging with partners and people, locally, nationally and globally, to achieve our core purpose.
• Integrity Valuing and learning from our heritage and commitment to excellence; never compromising on our core purpose, our standards and the quality of delivery.
• Innovation Proactively challenging current thinking with a forward-looking agile approach that meets the changing needs of our members and all those who interact with us.
• Inspiration Leading by example through open dialogue, teamwork and engagement to maximise our potential and affect change.
• Inclusivity Demonstrating care, kindness, civility, generosity and mutual respect through the way we welcome, work and interact with people.

Role and Responsibilities

The College would like to recruit new Lay Advisors for 6 boards and committees:

• Audit and Risk Committee
• Faculty of Podiatric Medicine Executive Board
• Fellowship Committee
• Finance and Investment Committee
• Scholarship Committee
• Sustainability Steering Group

We would especially like to recruit new members to increase the diversity of these committees in terms of:

• Gender equality
• Ethnicity
• Age
• Inclusion and diversity

The role of a Lay Advisor is to provide non-medical input and perspective into the discussions and decision making of College boards and committees which support the charitable purposes of College.

Lay Advisors contribute to the openness, diversity and transparency of College affairs. Lay Advisors are not patients or public representatives.

The main responsibilities of the volunteer Lay Advisors shall be to:

• Provide lay representation on one or more of the College’s boards and committees
• Provide, as requested by the College’s committees and representatives, individual and collective lay input on matters relating to the work of the College and primarily in line with College’s key aims and objectives as detailed in the strategic plan.
• Represent, when required, the College on intercollegiate committees when specific lay representation is required.
• Comment on and/or respond to appropriate health related consultations and/or papers, policy documents from a lay perspective as directed by the Honorary Secretary and in line with the consultation process. The details of which are contained within the Terms of Reference for the Lay Advisory Group.
• Provide a pool of lay members who may, if required, serve on other professional medical bodies associated with the College e.g. Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (AoMRC) Patient Liaison Group.
• Provide a potential source of lay examiners for College and intercollegiate examinations.
• Identify members to contribute to any Lay Advisory Panel(s) i.e. reference group which may be established, from time to time, to deal with specific matters of importance/areas of expertise as and when required.
• Contribute to discussion and debate, within College, both directly and indirectly on matters which are of interest to the College and the wider public.
• Respond to relevant requests from the Executive Board or College Council asking for comment.

Lay Advisor Person Specification

• No formal educational qualifications are necessary
• Genuine interest in training, health and social issues
• Good communication skills. Able to work effectively with people in groups and in formal meetings
• Ability to challenge, constructively, the views and assumptions of others
• Able to maintain confidentiality appropriate to the circumstances
• Willingness and/or experience to participate in and provide input to a wide range of public policy and health related consultations
• Able to attend College board/committee meetings– typically 3-4 times per year
• Able to attend Lay Advisory Group meetings – typically 3 per annum
• All meetings are hybrid with the option to join in person in the College in Glasgow or via MS TEAMS

Eligibility Criteria

• Lay Advisors must not be qualified in either medicine, dentistry, nursing, podiatry or travel medicine
• The current or immediate past employment of a Lay Advisor must not give rise to any potential conflicts of interest

Remuneration

• The post of Lay Advisor is voluntary, however, expenses incurred in carrying out the role of Lay Advisor will be reimbursed in line with the College Travel and Expenses policy

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