First5 is a new college initiative to offer educational support to GPs who have qualified within the last 5 years. Locally this will take the form of a number of small groups of GPs who will meet 10 times a year. It is anticipated that there will be about 6 of these groups across the Thames Valley Faculty with groups arranged at locations to suit the needs of the GPs.  The groups will be held in surgeries close the hub of the group. These groups will meet for 2 hours in the evening, with each evening having an educational topic chosen by the group from a number of themes relating to either clinical, business or lifelong learning. These meetings will be validated for revalidation purposes. To be a member of a first 5 group (including all the educational meetings) will be free to members of the RCGP and it will cost £360 per year for non members. These fees will be reviewed after 1 year and it should be noted that these meetings may need to be sponsored in order that the costs can be kept to a minimum.

At present the first group has been set up in Aylesbury but we are looking for other areas to roll this out to; therefore if you know of anywhere with a group of GPs who would like to be the second group in our region or if you would like any further information then please email me claire.stewart@nhs.net.