Welcome to the Plymouth VTS timetable pages
We run a rolling 3 year teaching programme based on the RCGP curriculum.
Over the course of your time on the VTS you should encounter most areas of the curriculum during these sessions.
GP training is much too complex and wide-ranging to imagine that we can teach you all you need to be a GP in these sessions. In fact, most of your knowledge will come from learning as you go, which as reflective adult learners is how it should be.
We tend to focus on the areas of the curriculum that are harder to achieve in your day to day clinical work. Consequently, you will find that while there is some didactic topic-based teaching, delivered by subject matter experts. However, during each full day of teaching, we will run an interactive, small group session focussing on your attitudes, your experiences, and parts of the curriculum best delivered in a group setting.
We expect you to think about what you want to get out of sessions in advance (and prepare, if required), turn up on time, engage, interact, and offer sensible feedback on how sessions might be improved. In turn we promise to do our best to provide a fantastic, supportive, engaging and inspiring learning experience.
Because of the number of trainees on the scheme, we split you into ST1, 2 or 3 cohorts.
During your ST1 and 2 years, you will attend full-day teaching sessions approximately monthly (3 per term). These will be a mix of clinical topics and interactive sessions with expert facilitators, as well as communication and consultation skills sessions, often including the opportunity to roleplay with actors.
While in your ST1/2 GP practice placement, you will also attend 1/2-day small group sessions on a more frequent basis. Small Groups enable you to bring any problems from your training practices to a safe place where they can be shared with your peers; where you can try out different problem-solving approaches to patient care and management, and where different approaches to consulting can be practised and be given feedback.
During ST3, you will attend full-day teaching fortnightly. Again, there will be some topic-based teaching, but there will be more comms skills sessions to get you ready to sit your RCA / CSA. The days will also include small group work between sessions, for usually an hour. We know that to be effective, small groups do need to be, small. Because we usually have over 30 ST3s, we will allocate you to 2 or 3 groups, and you’ll stay with each other for the year; this can help when forming exam support groups.