Structure
ST1s and ST2s are usually taught on alternate Tuesday afternoons, though sometime there will be courses that we run for the whole day and there will also be deanery led courses which happen on a Tuesday. The deanery sessions are usually remote and you will be emailed with details on how to sign up and attend.
The VTS teaching program involves structured, curriculum-based topics delivered predominantly by our dedicated team of GP trainers, in-depth longitudinal sessions with other year groups and exam focused sessions to help you keep on top of the WPBA, prepare for the AKT and SCA. We do also have sessions run by specialists – including a statistics day in preparation for the AKT, three sessions run by our local paediatricians, BLS training, and afternoon with our local learning disabilities team, a session run by our child mental health team and sessions from the sexual health department.
We run a three year consultation skills program with actors to help you learn how to consult like a GP, prepare for your consultation skills exam (SCA) and manage difficult consultations.
Each VTS session counts as 4 hours of ‘educational time’.
Venue
Training will usually be in the postgraduate centre at the Royal Berkshire Hospital, though sometimes the venue changes as we run joint courses with the Windsor scheme.
Please see the VTS Timetable for further details regarding the topic, venue and timing of teaching sessions.
Attendance
Attendance at teaching is very important and we have worked hard with the departments to ensure trainees are released to attend teaching where possible. The single lead employer requires that we keep records of your attendance and report all absences to them. We therefore require that you fill in a Teaching Absence form for every missed session (both structured teaching and SDL) so that we can pass this information on to them. It is important to note that you are paid to attend teaching and unexplained absence is treated as a probity issue by the single lead employer. If your department is not releasing you regularly for teaching the PDs will investigate this.