Listening to members’ views, and understanding what’s important is vital to ensuring that the College is reflective of members’ needs and is supportive across their careers in psychiatry. 

The 2024 RANZCP Member Engagement Survey was developed with the guidance of the Membership Engagement Committee (MEC). 

This year’s survey focused on themes including relationships with the College, the services and benefits of membership that are most valued, views on communications, and personal engagement. Our last major engagement survey was in 2018.

Over 1200 responses were received – giving us a response rate of 15.9% for Fellows and Affiliate Members, and 10.4% for Trainees. Respondents were broadly representative of the College’s overall membership profile.

Our sincere thanks to everyone who gave their time and shared their views and insights with us.

We’re currently analysing nearly 3,000 free text responses that members provided, in addition to the quantitative responses received. 

Early insights from both the Fellow / Affiliate Member and Trainee surveys so far include:

• The member benefits most valued by Fellows and Affiliate Members are the College’s CPD Program; membership of Peer Review Groups; the RANZCP’s journals; online modules and podcasts via LearnIT; member webinars; and membership of Faculties, Sections and Networks.
• The member benefits most valued by Trainees are the RANZCP’s journals; online modules and podcasts via LearnIT; member webinars; College conferences and events; access to other international journals; and networking and support opportunities.
• Respondents rated their overall satisfaction with College communications in the neutral to positive range, with a weighted score of 7 for Trainees and 6.8 for Fellows/Affiliates (on a scale of 1-10). 
• Fellows and Affiliate Members tended to agree that the College has built a strong, professional community of psychiatrists, and that our work seeks to improve the mental health outcomes of communities.
• Fellows, Affiliate Members and Trainees generally described that the College provides them with relevant updates, information and resources, however they were less likely to feel a sense of connection with the College overall. A feeling of disengagement with the College was present.
• Responses were more neutral to negative in relation to workforce advocacy, the extent to which the College understands the needs of psychiatrists and trainees, and that membership represents good value for money. 
• More Fellows and Affiliate Members reported that they ‘contribute to the College and get plenty back in return’ or ‘get what they need from the College even though they don’t contribute much’, compared with those who feel they are ‘not currently getting as much as they could from their membership’.
• Fellows and Affiliate Members were mostly satisfied to neutral when it comes to their overall satisfaction with their College membership. Similarly, Trainees were generally satisfied to neutral about the Fellowship program. 

The MEC will continue to provide updates back to the membership about key findings, themes and recommendations from the survey over the coming months. 

Our Trainee committees, Branches, and New Zealand National Committee will also receive their own reports as well to help inform their work at a local level.

All members are welcome to share any additional views they have to the MEC at board_mec@ranzcp.org