You need to liaise as a Year Group three times per year, to elect a representative and to give feedback to the Faculty about the local programme.
Year Group Representative
Identifying a good trainee representative for your year is very important and the elected person will be given information on the expectations of the role. This representative will undertake to seek feedback from the whole year group (face-to-face or by email) about the training programme ahead of each of the three meetings of the GP Faculty Group. The loop must then be closed by the representative and information/responses from the GP Faculty being passed back to the year group. You should aim to elect your year group representative as soon as possible and whoever takes on this role will be encouraged to attend the KSS Deanery’s half day workshop for new trainees. This will take place locally within the AEB RSCH and these sessions called ‘Supporting Postgraduate Doctor Representatives will be held at the beginning of the academic year. Contact your administrator if you have been elected as a trainee representative. This is an excellent role to take on and is a great example of leadership and also great for your curriculum vitae
Local Academic Board (LAB)
The Local Academic Board within this Trust is responsible for ensuring that postgraduate medical trainees receive education and training that meets local, national and professional standards. The LAB meets three times each year and through various processes undertakes the quality control of postgraduate medical training programmes within the Trust. It receives Annual Audits and Reports from all the Local Faculty Groups, and acts as a point of contact between the KSS Deanery Schools and Local Faculty Groups. It is also responsible for the co-ordination and administration of PMETB specialty visits. The Director of Medical Education is the Chair of the LAB and is supported by a Clinical Tutor based on each site.
The Buddy System
We have a mentoring scheme called the Buddy System. All the new information and expectations from the GP training scheme can be overwhelming when you start and the hope is through this system you will find support, a point of reference to ask for advice and guidance. The idea was taken from similar concept used in medical schools where new medical students were joined with older medical students to support them and ease them into medicine.
All ST1 trainees starting in our scheme will be paired with an ST2 and an ST3 trainee and their contact details will be provided during induction. Within the first few weeks of your ST1 year your ST2/ ST3 buddies will be expecting to be contacted by you to introduce yourselves and maybe even arrange to meet.