GP POSTS ON THE BRADFORD SCHEME HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF THEM

GP POSTS All the Bradford rotations have 18m GP GP posts are 12m in ST3; the other 6m is either in ST1 or ST2, usually a different practice to the one in ST3

WHAT’S DIFFERENT IN GP? Practices are businesses contracted to provide primary medical care for the NHS – you are therefore a practice employee Your trainer More personal relationship than with consultants Many roles – teacher, employer, mentor, assessor, possibly friend Practice staff – be relaxed but respectful Practice manager – a key person to get to know

WHAT’S DIFFERENT IN GP? Give and take – practices may be more flexible employers than hospitals, if you are seen as helpful, conscientious and flexible

WORK IN GP POSTS You won’t be thrown in at the deep end – there will be an induction period Appointment intervals are long at the start – with the eventual aim to reduce to 10 minutes Timetable – 7 clinical sessions per week plus educational time with trainer, HDR, study half-day (full time training) Friendly environment but actual work may feel quite isolated

WORK IN GP POSTS Good personal organisation needed – follow through, not handover Long days, possibly 8.30 – 6.30ish Visits by agreement, usually reduced number to allow attendance at HDR/Wednesday tutorials

OUT OF HOURS You are required to do a minimum of one session per month in GP (one session should last 4-6 hours) Rota currently organised by our administrator but this is likely to change – WATCH THIS SPACE! Most sessions with Local Care Direct (LCD) seeing patients at OOH centre or visiting them, with a trainer or other experienced GP supervising you Record on your eportfolio, each session should be filed separately under Out of Hours on the Learning Log Keep a record of your hours on the ‘Log of Out of Hours Form’ from Y&H website and this should be uploaded to the eporfolio prior to ARCP panel at the end of the year

EDUCATION IN GP POSTS Support during surgeries and OOH sessions, and debriefing afterwards Teaching with trainer according to your educational needs Assessments by trainer Possibly teaching and/or assessments by other practice members Wednesday group tutorials at Ashcroft Surgery, 1pm pm

A FEW EXPECTATIONS OF YOU Transport to get yourself to visits and educational sessions Reliable attendance of OOH sessions (this is a training requirement, failure to meet this means failing training) Moonlighting – not encouraged but can be done with explicit agreement of your trainer if you are in full time training; not permitted if you are training LTFT

Geographical position Inner city/urban/semi- rural Size Demography of patients Building Number of sites Doctor’s interests – clinical, medicopolitical, other teaching, non-NHS work Demography of team Systems, IT Management style Ethos/values/priorities VARIATION BETWEEN PRACTICES

TOP TIPS FROM FORMER TRAINEES 80% of your first GP rotation should be learning/developing your own consultation model. If you nail this early you will fly through ST3 assessments and the CSA The remaining 20% should be learning the day to day GP jobs, practice structure, OOH service, build up on some foundation knowledge and making full use of the e-portfolio

TOP TIPS FROM FORMER TRAINEES Start on 20 minute appointments Don’t put too much pressure on yourself in terms of AKT; you need a good chunk of time in GP before sitting this. Some trainees get pushed into sitting the exam in ST2 before they are ready and the results are often not very good! Try and get the audit out of the way in your first GP post If you are on call, make sure there is a trainer with you Getting on well with your trainer is key and makes everything easier

TOP TIPS FROM FORMER TRAINEES Try and choose a few hospital clinics to sit in (good ones are memory clinic, syncope clinic, ENT etc.) – easy to get time off to do and don’t have to pay like you do for courses Don’t let them drop your appointment times too quickly, use the time for learning and looking through old clinic letters/referrals etc. Once you drop there’s no return. Keep a list of your referrals and then check back to read clinic letters to learn from them