Trainer’s Commitments

Training is expected to take 2 full sessions per week and 7-9 days per year on top of that.

Weekly Sessions

Training is considered to take two sessions a week for direct teaching, preparation and planning.  Many practices started training years ago, when less was expected of the trainer, therefore, most longstanding training practices only give their trainers one session a week (ie a full half day).

Training time includes the weekly tutorial and planning, as well as monitoring and feedback of ePortfolios for the current trainee in practice and possibly a further one or two who are going though the hospital system at ST1/2 levels.

When another member of the team within a practice delivers a tutorial most trainers will give the equivalent time back in surgery appointments, but still need 1.5 hours for all the other educational activities.

If your trainee is sailing and all is going well there may be weeks when commitments are reduced but trainers will find that a trainee in difficulty will require more support and practices need to be able to accomodate this.  It is also important to note that the 6 month educational supervisor reports do take some time to complete and one trainer may have three of these to do.  Trainers can claim a £500 per year educational supervisor grant (pro rata) for the work they do to support ST1/2 trainees in hospital posts.

Educational supervisors grant form   Educational Supervision 2015

Most trainers do find they spend time on training work at home, in some cases up to 3 hours per week. This extra time may be something to negotiate with your practice.

Annual Sessions

On average there will be 7-9 days per year in addition to your weekly  educational commitment.  These may not be evenly spread throughout the year.  They are made up of:

All trainers are expected to contribute to the Vocational Training Scheme.   We invite trainers to volunteer their areas of interest and run half-day teaching sessions for our ST1/2/3 year groups.  We also involve trainers in our CSA preparation and therapeutic rapport days.

The VTS runs two Trainers’ study days per year to help trainers keep their educational skills up to date.  One usually occurs in Novemeber and the other in March.  The Deanery runs two annual ‘Educators’ days’, usually in June for trainers across HETV.  You will be expected to attend at least one of these.

As a trainer you are expected to join a practice-visiting team at least once a year.  These visits usually last for a day and are to practices outside our immediate area. They can be tiring  but offer a really valuable insight into how other practices deliver training. There is some paperwork to go through before hand and you may be involved in compiling a report afterwards.  Your own re-approval visit will happen initially after 2 years and then every three years. It takes a whole day plus a lot of preparation time on form-filling, report-writing and ensuring the practice complies with standards set.

These groups are run by trainers, for trainers.  We have three subgroups running within the scheme area based in central Reading, Newbury and Sonning Common.  They usually take place at lunch time, and run every month or two.  The sessions are an ideal opportunity for benchmarking, developing your skills as a trainer and general support.

You usually meet with your ST1 at the beginning of their first placement and then every six months to complete their educational supervisors review until they join you as an ST3.  Each meeting takes one or two hours.

Involvement in the recruitment process for candidates applying for GP training is optional and you will be paid deanery rates if you choose to participate.   Selection usually takes place in Oxford in February.