We have a wide range of training GP practices available for the scheme. These vary widely in size and location, from town practices in Barnstaple and Bideford towns to villages across Exmoor and in rural areas around South Molton.
You will be offered a choice of which practice you go to for your ST3 year placement.
I’m sorry if some of the allocation information seems complex and at times authoritarian. It is not in our nature at VTS to be this way, however with significant numbers of trainees to manage through complex rotations it is important that we have appropriate rules to guide us.
ST3 GP placement allocation
Midway through your ST1 year you will be asked to make a choice about the training practice you would like to spend your ST3 year in.
Many VTS schemes do not give trainees a choice of practice, instead choosing to allocate trainees. Please therefore respect the benefits that you get from this process and respect the principles behind it. Choice of practices is not a trainee right that is guaranteed.
In order to fairly distribute ST3 trainees across our widely spread training practices the VTS and the trainers have agreed the following process.
- A certain number of practice places will be released for each cohort of trainees to choose from. This will be equal to, or slightly more than the total number of trainees seeking a practice. The places released will be based on numbers of previous ST3 placements at that practice. This is to ensure fair shares of ST3’s across the training practices:
- It is worth noting that all training practices have been visited and approved and all trainers have shown a high level of commitment to get the necessary training and approval to become a trainer. To choose your practice purely on what is geographically convenient does a disservice to this level of commitment, but we appreciate that location may be a factor in your choice.
- You will be asked to select a top 3 from the available practices. You should have visited or at least made contact with the trainers at these practices to ensure compatibility. Trainers retain the right to veto any trainee choosing their practice, but meeting in advance minimises the risk of trainer/ trainee mismatches.
- It is possible that you won’t get any of your choices although we will do our best to avoid this. To minimize this risk it is good to discuss your choices with peers to avoid you all choosing from the same limited pool of practices. If this is the case we will come to you and discuss your options and you will need to make choices from the remaining unallocated practices.
We hope that this is seen as a transparent and fair system. Please be reminded that it is in no way a guarantee and the deanery team reserve the right to place trainees where they feel is most appropriate. Any trainees who are felt by the team to be behaving unreasonably with respect to allocations risk negative judgments being made regarding their professionalism, which are taken with the utmost seriousness by all of those involved in GP training.
When choosing a practice I would encourage you to look at the Practice Profiles, which are on the Deanery website. Look at a map. Think what type of practice you want, e.g. large v small, rural v urban v suburban, geography and demographics of the practice area, interests and characters of the trainers and team at the practice etc. Some of this will be apparent from the profiles, but some will need you to make an appointment with the practice manager or trainer and visit. Also chatting to your peers in years above can be a good source of information. The programme directors also know the practices well and can offer diplomatic advice, if requested.