Dear NELG Member,
Dear colleague
please see below this month's news relating to education and appraisal.
best wishes
Paula WRight
This programme continues- though please note we will be in a new venue in July (to be announced):
Feb 6th Chronic fatigue syndrome- new guidelines. Dr Spickett
March 5th OPthalmology skills for Gps
This programme continues- though please note we will be in a new venue in July (to be announced):
Feb 6th Chronic fatigue syndrome- new guidelines. Dr Spickett
March 5th OPthalmology skills for Gps
This scheme continues unchanged. For more information please read the deanery handbook on the website. There is no deanery database of practices. Some practices advertise when they wish to appoint but many doctors set up posts by informal approaches to practices. Applications and queries should be directed to me at pfwright@doctors.org.uk.
These valuable programmes have been affected by:
• PCT re-organisations to larger structures, with some events taking place across larger patches
• Budget cuts affecting funding of these events, with a number of PCTs(Newcastle, Sunderland) looking to GPs, practices and locums to contribute either on an attendance basis or on a annual basis, in order to sustain these programmes.
• Changes in availability of pharmaceutical industry funding.
As sessional GPs become an increasing proportion of PCT performers lists (a trend which is set to continue with 138 new GPs to qualify each year) many PCTs are reviewing access to these events.
Some PCTs are in discussions with local practices and LMC about asking attendees for contributions either on an annual basis or on an attendance basis. You may therefore be asked to contribute something towards the costs of these events.
Different PCTs have different access rules regarding sessional Gps with some allowing only sessional GPs which are working in a locality practice at the time, others restricting access only to GPs on that PCT’s performers list. I would be interested to hear of an access difficulties sessional GPs may experience.
Can as ever be found on
www.nelg.org.uk then Education then “events”
In the near future and possibly as soon as 2009, re-licensing for the purposes of revalidation will depend on demonstrating satisfactory engagement in appraisal. The other two components for re-licensing will be:
1. Confirmation by the PCT that any concerns about a doctor’s conduct or fitness to practice have been resolved to the satisfaction of the medical director or GMC affiliate. (The PCT will hold a file on any “recorded concerns” about each doctor).
2. Participation in one independent 360 multi-source feedback.
It is therefore important that all sessional GPs maintain contact with their PCTs and ask to be updated on local requirements for appraisal, e.g. any requirements for evidence for appraisal. The current contact details for PCT are available on the deanery appraisal page
http://mypimd.ncl.ac.uk/PIMDDev/pimd-home/general-practice/appraisal-and-revalidation
The North of Tyne NHS has just published its MINIMUM EVIDENCE DATASET for appraisal and also its policies and procedures which can be found on the northern deanery appraisals page
http://mypimd.ncl.ac.uk/PIMDDev/pimd-home/general-practice/appraisal-and-revalidation.
Doctors who work exclusively out of hours can have difficulty obtaining evidence for appraisal due to :
• Lack of patient follow up
• Lack of a validated patient survey which has been designed for out of hours
• Working in isolation or often with different colleagues therefore having few opportunities for developing professional relationships or working as a team.
The new evidence dataset is intended to be sufficiently flexible that OOH doctors should be able to collect the relevant items with some small modifications:
-using only the consulting skills part of the GPAQ survey
-asking your OOH provider for any routinely collected data (appropriately benchmarked to peers) which may provide an opportunity for reflecting on and improving on performance.
-asking your OOH organisation for personalised feedback about your performance.
If you have any difficulties with this I would be interested in hearing from you.
This is an A5 booklet which was devised to help appraisees keep reflections on their various educational activities as they go along, for the many who find this difficult to do. Many of you have asked me to send one out but unfortunately I don’t have the admin support to do this specially around the reclaiming costs. So if you really want one (there are a few copies left) please send me a Stamped addressed A5 (or larger) envelope with 3 first class stamps on it, to me including 50p to cover the cost of the booklet and I will post one out to you. (24 woodlands Gosforth Newcastle NE34YL)
I have been thrilled to find out how well so many of you have got on in your newly formed GROUPS since our big launch last year in February. It has been particularly good to see how valuable these groups are to those who are returning from career breaks or are new to the area and find themselves (even more) isolated. There is now a years’ collective experience of different models and the time seem right to share some of lessons we have learnt. From informal discussion I gather many groups have monthly meetings rotating between houses with a rotating presenter. Some bring along journal article and some bring more detailed topics. Many report that having 6-8 in a group is ideal as the meetings can go ahead even when 1 or 2 are on holiday and almost all report having a set monthly date is helpful as it avoids tedious collective coordination of dates.
If you are in a SDLG it would be great if you could share some of your experiences by answering the questions below- or emailing the answers in anonymous attachment (whichever you prefer, they will be collated and anonymised anyway).
HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE IN YOUR GROUP ? HOW OFTEN DO YOU MEET ?
WHAT DO YOU THINK WORKS WELL IN YOUR GROUP ?
WHAT PROBLEMS OR CHALLENGES HAVE YOU ENCOUNTERED AND HOW HAVE YOU TACKLED THEM ?
WHAT TOPICS HAVE YOU COVERED OVER THE YEAR ?
WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO DO TO FURTHER SUPPORT YOUR GROUP ? WHAT DO YOU THINK COULD BE DONE TO SUPPORT FORMATION OF NEW GROUPS ?
IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO RECEIVE THESE EMAILS PLEASE VISIT YOUR MEMBERSHIP PAGE ON NELG AND CORRECT YOUR PREFERENCES.