Welcome

Plymouth GP Vocational Training Scheme

Welcome to the Plymouth GPVTS Website

Hello and welcome to the Plymouth GPVTS.

We are based near to Plymouth’s Derriford Hospital in the South West in the glorious county of Devon.

We are blessed with not only the finest GP training opportunities available but also with the enviable lifestyle opportunities that being a GP in the sunny South West of England can offer.

Our trainees tell us they love their training, and many stay in the area after completion.

But don’t just take our word for it! See what some of our current and past trainees have to say…

COVID-19 INFORMATION FOR TRAINEES
HEE has produced COVID-19 guidance and information for trainees. Please click here

Resources for International Medical Graduates

We recognise that many of our trainees will have gained their primary medical qualification outside the UK and that while some will already have extensive experience, others may be new, or relatively new, to both the UK and the NHS.

We recommend you take a look at this website which is run by two Core Medical Trainees from Plymouth and has much information that will be helpful for those new to UK practice:

Road to UK

About Our Scheme

The scheme is run by an extensive educational team. This includes the Plymouth GP Trainers, whose role is largely one-to-one teaching in the GP practice setting, and Associate Dean (AD) and four Training Programme Directors (TPDs) who are responsible for delivering the weekly educational programme. The programme is co-ordinated by our administrator from Health Education England. Meet the team.

We consistently achieve some of the best feedback in the GMC National Training Survey (NTS) and exam pass rates in the country.

We have an intake of approximately 28 trainees per year, as well as a few MOD trainees who attend the teaching programme and spend part of their training in civilian GP practices. We are also keen to embrace the various opportunities available to trainees such as less than full time working, deferred entry, taking prior experience into account to reduce training length (CEGPR (CP) / ATC) and we have access to some special funding for certain rotations, to encourage recruitment to hard-to-fill specialties and locations.

Rotations for the 3 year GP training schemes always offer some general practice experience in ST1 or ST2, together with a mixture of hospital-based jobs, usually based in or near Plymouth’s Derriford Hospital, or other local community hospitals or placements.


Listen to 2019 ST1, Malik, talk about his experience of working at St Luke’s Hospice, the base for our Palliative Care placement


The 3rd year of your training will be spent in one of our training practices, all of which are specially selected as offering high-quality general practice and a great training experience. They range in size from 5,000 to 43,000 patients and geographically from the inner city practices of Plymouth to the rural and coastal practices of East Cornwall, West Devon, and the South Hams. This offers real diversity of training opportunities.

Placements in primary care are spread across a relatively large area, with some of our practices being in rural areas, which are not easily accessible by public transport. A valid driving license is therefore highly recommended in order to commute between placements and explore the local area.

We also work closely with our local research colleagues, Global Health Collaborative, and Peninsula Medical School. This provides additional opportunities for you to enhance your training, and through HEE we also offer extensions to training to undertake further projects.

In addition, Peninsula Medical School offers academic opportunities from research, postgraduate qualifications, and the opportunity to do some teaching, that is if you’re not too busy with everything else.

We will support you into your first years of GP work through close links to our RCGP First5 colleagues, and Fellowships for recently qualified trainees.


So, why would you want to be a GP? Listen to Dr David Hopes, Associate Dean for the Plymouth VTS scheme, talk about his own journey into General Practice.

With huge thanks to Ibreez and Ibrahim from Road to UK for allowing us to share this video.

Dr David Hopes, Associate Postgraduate Dean, Plymouth VTS.
With thanks to Ibreez and Ibrahim from Road to UK for allowing us to share this video