Substance Misuse Scholar Opportunity

Severn Deanery offers a number of internal scholarships that enable GP Trainees to develop additional skills in leadership and education. Successful candidates are appointed during ST2 to a 13* (rather than the normal 12) month ST3 year. This allows an additional 20 working days within ST3 to develop additional expertise. 

Scholarship Application Form 2021

Scope

It is critically important to develop trainees with skills in leadership; management; a wider understanding of the primary/ secondary care interface and the impact of sustainable training and healthcare delivery. Our scholarship programme recognises and seeks to address this through a promotion of excellence and opportunity available to our ST3s.

Purpose

The purpose of the Scholarship programme is to offer GPST3s the opportunity to develop understanding and skills for the enhancement of education, leadership and primary healthcare relevant to the wider context of the NHS. Such skills will help equip the Scholar for future appointments within GP practices; deaneries; universities and the NHS as a whole. There is an expectation that these skills and experiences will be used to disseminate excellence across the local GP training scheme and the training practice community.

Location

Scholarships will be based within the Severn Primary Care School (SoPC) footprint. For posts linked to an individual patch, trainees will need to be based in that patch to be considered for the role. Some travel (within Covid restrictions at the time) is expected to attend events at the deanery or a work base away from a trainee’s local practice. There is no additional money available to fund the travel requirements of the scholarships outside the deanery area.

Scholarships: Core Job Description  

• Develop networking opportunities within the wider deanery and HEE teams and the local primary care community.
• Develop a project, over the duration of the scholarship, which is written up and presented.
• Attend key meetings within the GP Speciality Training programme (Patch) and the school of Primary Care.
• Attendance at regular scholar meetings – 2 per year at the deanery and 2 per year with their scholar small group.
• Link in with other scholars working in similar areas to ensure sharing of ideas and working when appropriate.
• Keep a log of how and when their scholarship time is used and on what activity to ensure they remain within the additional time offered. This should be shared with their ES.
• Promote their work to their GPST peers
• Promote their work to their training practice and local trainer’s groups
• Develop leadership and educational skills
• Take opportunities to further management skills
• Gain a better understanding of the local and national position of primary care in relation to CCGs, public health and secondary care.
• Attend recruitment training and taking part in Stage 3 of the GP Recruitment Process (paused 2021/22, TBC 2022/23).
• Work sustainably, including sensible use of office equipment, facilities, and supplies, considering carbon expenditure when travelling, working virtually where possible.
• Adhere to the guidance and specific job description notes for their individual scholarship.

Eligibility

We welcome applications from trainees due to CCT (as per their eportfolio at the time the application window is open) between April 2022 and March 2023, whether FT or LTFT.
If your CCT date is after March 2023 then you will be eligible to apply for a scholarship in 2022. If you are concerned that you will not be eligible to apply for a scholarship post during your training due to your CCT dates, then please contact us to discuss.

Funding and additional training time

The successful appointee will extend their period as a GPST in ST3 by one calendar month i.e. extending ST3 to 13 months full time equivalent. Public health scholarships are extended by 3 months, to make a 15 month programme.

 See Additional Training Requirements and Guidelines.

Support and mentoring

Either the local patch team, a senior member of the SoPC or a local expert in the field, will provide mentoring to each scholar.

This is not usually an onerous task and the school is very grateful to those who volunteer to do this. Mostly the trainees will be very self-motivated and self directed!

All mentors should:

• Be in regular contact (e.g. every 1-2 months) to ensure the trainee is well supported.
• Help the trainee to plan and develop a relevant project over their ST3 year.
• Support the trainee to overcome blocks to progress in their project.
• Ensure that they have a short PDP for their scholar time, which the trainee should load onto their portfolio.
• Encourage and support networking, learning and development opportunities for the scholar.
• Be an advocate for the scholar and the programme in general.
• Give regular (e.g. 3-4 monthly) feedback on progress and next steps.
• Challenge the trainee towards excellence – be it by writing a poster or journal article, or presenting at a conference – help them aim high!

For those scholars on a 1 month extension, it would expected for the mentor to write an educator note in their ePortfolio prior to the final ARCP.
For those scholars on a 3 month extension, a formal CSR must be completed.

Additionally, if there are any concerns about a trainees performance or with the programme, these should be fed back to the GP school as soon as they arise.

Projects and presentations

Scholars will be expected to undertake a project during their time and this will be presented at the final review meeting. They will be expected to write a final report and also articles of their experience for the website and publication. Poster and/or presentations at suitable conferences will be encouraged and supported.

Project work will be directed by the scholar’s mentor and should develop specific initiatives within Severn. Such project work will be designed and supported to help the post holder develop experience in:

• Planning, delivering and evaluating the project
• Problem analysis
• Team working
• Project management
• Critical review of success and failure
• Preparation of report for the Patch or relevant APDs

Available Scholarships (For Severn GPST3 trainees)

(Post Numbers Flexible – see Job description)