The Half Day Release (HDR) helps trainees to develop the key skills essential for General Practice, but also provides a nurturing environment for trainees to support one another and learn from each other as the year progresses.
Details of the 2022-2023 programme can be found here.
The Half Day Release programme is an essential and valuable part of the ST3 year. On the course we aim to help ST3s develop the core skills and knowledge base that form the GP Curriculum. We also help the Registrars to prepare for all aspects of the MRCGP examination, and to make best use of the ePortfolio.
The course runs on a Thursday, for 30 weeks of the year, and dovetails with the Thursday lunchtime lectures and independent learning, usually in small study groups. A typical day of face-to-face teaching would be as follows:
09:00 – Coffee for a prompt start at 09:30
09:30 – 12:00 HDR course
12:30 – 14:00 GP Clinical Update
14:00 – 17:00 Independent Learning / Study
The course is mandatory, and comprises half of the annual study leave requirement of 30 days for the ST3 year (counting as 30 half days). You are encouraged not to take annual leave or study leave during the course, as educational days missed during leave should comprise less than 20% of the course.
We do need to keep trainers informed if their trainee fails to attend the course without notice, and so it is vital to let the Programme Directors know if you are planning to be absent.
Please e-mail Donna Stevens at donnastevens@nhs.net to advise of any absence.