Study Leave
You are entitled to 30 days (pro rata) of study leave a year as a GP trainee, but some of this is taken for your mandatory in programme training. In ST3 this will be 15 days for the 30 half day release sessions on Wednesday afternoons.
Please see the above links for full guidance. Optional or aspirational study leave has to be agreed with your educational supervisor and has to be relevant to your development.
Study leave to prepare for exams is only permitted for MRCGP assessments and only up to a maximum of 5 days.
Parental leave
Inform the hospital trust and your training programme director ideally by the end of the 15th week prior to your intended maternity leave. At least 4 weeks notice should be given prior to returning from maternity leave.
You need to ensure you have a review (ESR) with your educational supervisor shortly before you start maternity leave so that you are marked as out of programme. Ideally you should have a Supported Return to Training discussion at this point as well.
If you will have less than 4 weeks of training before completion of the programme on return, then your final ESR and ARCP can be completed whilst you are still on leave to ensure your CCT is approved in time.
Please see the handbook for full guidance. Also read our section on Supported Return to Training for how we can help you after a period of leave.
HEKSS GP trainee handbookSick Leave
If you need time off sick, there are 2 aspects you need to think about:
Your Employment
– You should contact your workplace immediately to let them know you can’t come to work. In GP this might be the Practice Manager or your Trainer, in hospital the Rota Coordinator, departmental secretary or your Clinical Supervisor. Try to have a conversation or full message exchange – don’t just leave a message and hope it gets through. If you can give them an idea of how long you are likely to be off sick, this is helpful.
– You must send sick notes to the correct admin department in your employing organisation – if you don’t, you may not get paid on time.
Your Education
– If you are absent for more than two weeks in any one year for any kind of leave in addition to the study and annual leave allowance, that excess must be made up with additional training time at the end of your training programme.
– If you are absent for more than the two weeks allowance, please let the following people know:
1. Your scheme’s GP administrator
2. The Training Programme Directors
3. The Deanery
Other Types of Leave
Time off for Family and Dependents
As an employee you’re allowed time off to deal with an emergency involving a dependant. A dependant could be a spouse, partner, child, grandchild, parent, or someone who depends on you for care. You’re allowed a reasonable amount of time off to deal with the emergency, but there’s no set amount of time as it depends on the situation.
Compassionate Leave
Unfortunately, most people will experience the loss of somebody close to them at some point during their career and may need time off work for compassionate bereavement leave. This allows them time for grieving and managing bereavement matters, such as arranging or attending a funeral. Currently, there is no legal obligation for UK employers to provide compassionate leave as standard, paid or otherwise. However, most employers do exercise discretion, and most detail a formal bereavement leave policy as a contractual entitlement. Please talk to your employer.
Jury Service Leave
Your employer is required to give you time off for jury service BUT they don’t have to pay you for the time that you take off (unless your employment contract says so). You’ll be able to claim money back from the court to make up for some of your financial losses.
Time off to visit the doctor or dentist
Your employer are not legally obliged to give you time off to attend doctor or dentist appointments unless your contract of employment says so. Your employer can insist you make these visits outside work hours, take holiday leave or make the time up later on. You should check your contract of employment.
Pregnant women are allowed reasonable paid time off work for ante-natal care – you won’t need to make it up later.
If you’re disabled and your employer won’t let you take time off for a medical appointment connected with your disability, they could be discriminating against you. Discuss this with them in the first instance.