Your Hospital Posts

GP speciality trainees complete up to 24 months in hospital placements with 12-16 months in general practice as part of the three-year programme. There are a wide variety of posts in the hospital placements including:

• paediatrics
• palliative care
• general medicine (sometimes with emphasis on managing common conditions such as cardiac and endocrine)
• care of the elderly (including a combined orthopaedic and geriatric post)
• a wide variety of psychiatry posts
• obstetrics and gynaecology
• ENT

Hopefully, the scheme should have provided you with your hospital post rotation. If this isn’t the case, get in touch with either the GP administrator for your scheme or one of the Training Programme Directors

Then get in touch with your hospital department´s secretary and/or consultant. Write a little paragraph introducing yourself and then ask them if you need to do anything further.

The department is likely to send you an induction pack, a timetable and some preparatory homework to do before starting your first day.

For those of you who are part-time or coming back from sick or extended leave, PLEASE make contact with your department/rota-coordinator EARLY (at least 6 weeks before) to make sure any special arrangements required are all in place, and if not – gives them time to fix. Ask to see the timetable.

We recognise that in any GP training programme it is not possible to include all the posts that cover every area of the GP curriculum and so the GP School has organised several Integrated Training posts.

These posts are based in general practice but provide additional time during the week (normally three days) attached to another speciality, clinic or primary care environment. Doctors working in these posts have indicated how valuable they find them.

Clinical leadership in commissioning (CLIC) posts

Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells VTS offers all trainees a highly innovative placement in healthcare managemen. The placements are hugely popular with GP trainees, who value the insight into the NHS system, and how they can contribute to quality improvement in a meaningful way.

CLIC posts give an excellent opportunity for GP trainees to have exposure to and learn about healthcare management and commissioning, primary care service structure, epidemiology and research and management in primary care (amongst many other areas).

CEPS are thinks like Breast Examination, Rectal, Prostate, Male Genital, Female Genital. So, for example, in your O&G post, consider getting female examinations done. Do the appropriate CEPS in the appropriate specialty.

If you have a problem with the post, for example, the work load, difficulty getting time to go to HDR, someone not treating you right, rota problems, EWTD  etc, please speak to your hospital consultant first to see if things can be easily sorted at a local level.

ALSO talk to one of the Training Programme Directors (TPDs).  They are there to help you.   And especially get in touch with them if you feel uncomfortable talking with you hospital consultant.  TPDs can make things happen as well as providing a listening ear and a supportive hand.