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Severn School of Primary Care
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Severn Deanery and the School of Primary Care are very keen to identify and support trainees who are experiencing difficulties while undertaking GP Specialist training. Difficulties may be include:
  • Pressure of work/rotas or stress/difficulties at home impacting on your work
  • Falling behind with training assessments
  • Relationship problems with teams at work (which may include harassment or bullying)
  • Failure to progress in training (as assessed by reviews possible leading to unsatisfactory ARCP outcomes)
  • Physical/Mental health or alcohol/drug problems
  • Failing to pass components of the nMRCGP (CSA or AKT)
  • Uncertainty about career choice
In most cases, it is appropriate to first of all discuss these issues with your immediate clinical supervisor or your educational supervisor. If you prefer, then a member of your local GPE educator team is always willing to support you. Finally, your local patch Associate Postgraduate Dean (APD) is willing to discuss things with you directly, if you consider it more appropriate.

Please remember that our primary concern is to support you to enable you to complete your training satisfactorily.

Other services that you might find helpful are:
  • Occupational health
  • Counselling service for trainees
  • Careers advice
  • Human Resources Department (if working in a Trust)
For those trainees who are failing to progress satisfactorily or have failed a component of the MRCGP, the School of Primary Care have a remediation protocol which will be followed.



We hope that trainees experiencing difficulties will actively seek help and support from their supervisors, although in reality, this does not always occur.

Clinical supervisors in hospital will be able to get support from Trust Human Resource Departments and the Directors of Medical Education - DMEs). They are also encouraged to share concerns and planned interventions with the trainee's Educational Supervisor and Patch Associate Postgraduate GP Dean, APD, (if appropriate). Contact details of the ES can be found on the trainee's e portfolio.

GP clinical and educational supervisors may gain support from trainers' groups and the local GPE team. For more significant concerns, the local patch APD should be contacted at an early stage.

A sheet giving more details as to an approach with trainees in difficulty has been produced:


The Severn Deanery follows the guidance laid out by the National Association of Clinical Tutors, which should be referred to for further information.

Use of Educator Pages

The e portfolio now has "educator pages" and we recommend that these are used to note down areas of difficulty or concerns that you have discussed with your trainee, together with action recommended. The trainee has an opportunity to comment on these notes, and this can be viewed by the ARCP panel.  All educators involved with a trainee in difficulty should keep full documentation of meetings and encounters using the NACT forms, as well as giving a brief synopsis of issues and actions on the e portfolio educator page. If not a current supervisor, then an educator can access the portfolio by being allocated clinical supervisor status by contacting the Deanery (phone Katie on 01454 252631).

For further information on the process of managing GP Trainees in difficulty, contact:
John Edwards
 
 
 
Last updated at 10:55, 14 October 2009