LTFT Joint SALT Meeting
LTFT Joint SALT Meeting
Main Conference Room, St Chad’s Court
Thursday 27 June 2013
10.00 – 12.00
MINUTES
Item / ActionPresent:
Helen Goodyear (HG)
Helen Rickhuss (HR)
Toria Stevens (TS)
Andrea Ng (AN)
Lucy Strens (LS)
Emily Johnson (EJ)
Elizabeth Smith (ES)
Nicky Osborn (NO)
Laura Coleman (LC)
Katie Wright (KW)
Elizabeth Justice (EJu)
Paulette Myers (PM)
Maddie Meades (MM)
Katherina McEvoy (KM)
Sally Natynczuk (SN)
In Attendance:
Phoebe Biddulph (PB) / Chair, Associate Dean for LTFT Training, West Midlands LETB
Lead Trainee, Pathology
LTFT Advisor, Palliative Care
Lead Trainee, GUM
LTFT Advisor, Neurology
Lead Trainee, Anaesthetics
LTFT Advisor, Geriatric Medicine
LTFT Advisor, Anaesthetics
Lead Trainee, Radiology
Lead Trainee, Emergency Medicine
LTFT Advisor, Rheumatology
LTFT Advisor, Public Health
Lead Administrator, LTFT, Medical Specialties, West Midlands LETB
Lead Trainee, Surgery
LTFT Advisor, Psychiatry
Administrator, West Midlands LETB
01 / Welcome and Apologies
Apologies were received from Savita Gossain, Juliet Mills, Carol Cobb, Claire Hookey, Helen Lewis, Katherine Ibison, Stuart Taylor, Suzy Matts, Kate Warren, Bridget Wilson, David Ford, Rachael Boddy, Sharmila Madhogaria, Liz McEvoy, Ruth Lester, Kathryn Hunt, Eleanor Dryhurst and Anjum Tariq.
02 / Minutes of Meeting 15th January 2013
The minutes were confirmed as a true and accurate record of events. /
03 / Matters Arising
A statement has been included in the Eligibility Letter regarding Keeping in Touch (KIT) days and trainees have been made aware. A further additional statement indicates that should people not wish to take up LTFT, the LETB needs to be informed. As yet, no such responses have been received. This will be monitored continuously. The LTFT forms have been embedded in the eligibility letters Where LTFT is being arranged at short notice, headers of emails and letters are including a notice that the application is urgent.
Currently there are no examples of people in surgery being refused part time training arrangements and only one new eligibility email has been received since January 2013 by the lead trainee. The LETB review of Core Surgical Training in May flagged up the issue of surgical trainees believing that it would be extremely difficult to work part time in that specialty, so the school has received an action point that they must endeavour to normalise part time training in surgery.
04 / Careers Fairs
Warwick Medical Careers Fair
This will be held on 20th September. Helen Goodyear will be unable to attend as she is abroad attending to Royal College commitments and therefore committee members were invited to attend on her behalf. One current trainee representative is required to give a presentation which historically has proven very useful to prospective graduates at the fair and one further committee member is required to be on hand at the LTFT stall. This is normally busy as Warwick being a graduate entry medical school tends to have graduates who have thought about work life balance. Maddie Meades will be attending. Helen Rickhuss and Katherina McEvoy volunteered and Katie Wright offered to send them the presentation that she had used in previous years
ACTION: Helen Rickhuss, Katherina McEvoy and Katie Wright to liaise regarding LTFT presentation for Warwick careers event.
LETB Careers Fair
This will be held on 5th October at 10.00 at a bigger venue than last year in central Birmingham which is currently being arranged by Lyndie Jones and Sandra Johnson-Hall. Helen Goodyear although present will be unable to attend to LTFTT due to her other roles and invited volunteers to be present between 10.00 and 16.00 for slots of 1-2 hours. Nicky Osborn volunteered to attend for an hour (10-11) and Katherina McEvoy and Laura Coleman volunteered. Maddie Meades will not be present at this event. A trainee presentation at this event would also be very helpful
ACTION: Committee to be informed of careers fair details in order that they can volunteer to take part. / HR, KM, KW
HG
05 / GMC Position Statement on New Curriculum
This will affect current SpRs, as the GMC have advised that transfer must take place before 31st December 2015. The Royal colleges have also taken slightly different stances and the RCPCH for example is insisting on transfer between August 2014 and August 2015 for those whose CCT date falls after this time. It was noted that trainees will not have to complete the new curriculum retrospectively or catch up on workplace based assessments, for example if only one year of training remains, then only one year of the new curriculum will be required.
It was noted that some trainees are bringing forward their CCT date in order to avoid having to change their curriculum, but the committee were advised to check their college guidelines as these must be adhered to as well as the GMC advice.
ACTION: Katherina McEvoy to email details of surgery CCT extensions to Helen Goodyear to ensure these will be recognised by the GMC.
Those transferring will have to use ePortfolio instead of paper portfolios. It is not anticipated that they will need to scan in their paper documents and upload them although if a long way from CCT this may become necessary. . The ARCP / RITA will call for a mixed economy with both paper and e Portfolio and therefore face-to-face meetings will in these circumstances be necessary.
The new curriculum will mostly affect those trainees who have taken maternity leave and other periods of leave, such as career breaks or study leave for PhDs/MDs.
The committee were advised to inform their trainees regarding the regulations surrounding the change to the new curriculum so that they have sufficient notice before their CCT to get everything in order and avoid having to repeat training. / KM, HG
06 / LTFT Programme Training Forms
The committee were reminded that the ‘deanery’ has now changed to Health Education West Midlands and, as such, the new forms on the website should be used with immediate effect. It is accepted that old forms may be in circulation for August and September rotations so these will be accepted. Thereafter, however, any old forms will be rejected and only HEWM programme forms will be accepted.
It was highlighted that confirmation of LTFT Training will be much quicker if trainees send in complete 4 page sets of well scanned forms. Single pages are not acceptable.
ACTION: All members to advise trainees to ensure forms are legible and sent in full / All
07 / Website
Attention was drawn to the importance of ALL LTFT Trainees checking the content of the LTFT Training Important Updates page of the website.
Old information has recently been removed and content updated.
ACTION: It was requested that committee members should check the website for any inaccuracies, and please advise Helen Goodyear so that amendments can be made. / All
08 / Rules re Locum Work / Extra Shifts as LTFTT
It was stated as an absolute that LTFT trainees may not do locum work.
A recent request to do 60% training at the same time as ad hoc locum posts has been rejected.
If a trust is in need of emergency cover, then LTFT trainees may cover shifts as an extra in their own department only. If it becomes regular and appears that a gap needs filling, the trust must employ a locum to cover it.
Helen Rickhuss raised a query regarding completing autopsy training and exposure to different parts of pathology in 2 weeks blocks when LTFT. Helen Goodyear responded that these are unique circumstances to pathology and such issues need to be dealt with on a case by case basis. Further discussion was held after the meeting and Dr Goodyear will be e mailing the relevant people to look further into this issue.
Nicky Osborn noted a query where trainees wished to increase their workload by going through locum agencies. This is prohibited as there is a contractual agreement that due to extenuating circumstances the individual trainee is not able to work full time. Should they be caught working for a locum agency, it is a probity issue and is likely to be reported to the GMC, who may in turn suspend the trainee. Helen Goodyear advised that if a trainee is in dire financial hardship, then they must contact her to increase their percentage rather than arranging more work outside of their contract agreement.
09 / Report from LTFT Specialty Advisors
Elderly Care had no issues to report.
Neurology currently has 3 LTFTTs, one of whom has recently secured a consultant post. A trainee has recently returned from sick leave and started LTFT and Intrepid is not showing that they are back at work. Lucy Strens had let the LTFT department know about this trainee; otherwise they would not have been aware.
Psychiatry does not have any issues. One trainee applied for LTFT but is now happy to work full time. An issue has been raised regarding trainees wanting time to complete courses which they have already done.
Palliative Medicine has seen Toria Stevens take on the role from Claire Hookey. She agreed to check that the new HEWM branded forms are being used.
Public Health has seen one trainee move to a consultant post and therefore they are no longer LTFT. A couple of trainees have spent longer in training than usual because of a pause in consultant recruitment due to the Health and Social Care Act changes. There has been a historic problem with ensuring the correct forms are submitted has been raised. Paulette Myers and Kate Warren redesigned the process at the end of April, which has been approved and will be audited in October.
Anaesthetics have a new trainee representative who needs adding to the distribution list.
Return to practice forms are now available on the LETB website which should have been in use across all specialties since April. It was emphasised that no trainee who has been out of programme for over 3 months should return to work without assessment of their competencies and it was unacceptable for the trainee to start back at work on nights and must be supervised initially. This applies when the break has been for research purposes e.g. OOPR. The committee were reminded to advise trainees to use appropriate LTFT programme forms upon return to work.
Trainees do not receive a day in lieu for attending study leave on a day they would not normally be working, as is the case with fulltimers, unless it is an ongoing study course occurring regularly on a specific day and that had not been arranged when their LTFT programme was agreed.
10 / Report from LTFT Lead Trainees
Rheumatology currently has 6 LTFT trainees. Usually trainees rotate annually. However, one will remain in the same post at the next rotation date. Dr Helen Goodyear requested that the trainee should email to confirm that the timetable/programme/hours will remain the same as for the current post and it is usually then possible to extend the LTFTT funding for the period without the need for new programme training forms. However, this is not the case for trainees at UHB or Heartlands where failure to complete new programme forms may result in not being paid.
Emergency Medicine has seen some difficulty with their 2 slot share trainees working the same days due to childcare commitments. If local compromise is not possible, the Programme Director should be involved in order to sort arrangements out. As a general rule, trainees should cover the working week between them although very occasionally it may be the case that the department can manage their working at the same time to a certain extent.
At University Hospital Birmingham, there has been a recent success in securing F7A banding for ED trainees rather than F6B banding after monitoring and a long process of keeping records. Trainees will be paid retrospectively.
Public Health has “inherited” trainees from GP who are not happy that their existing LTFT arrangements may need to change in the new post. Helen Goodyear advised that as long as 3 months’ notice is given, then trainees are in breach of their contract if they refuse to change their working days even if a different pattern of working was possible in their previous post.
Genitourinary Medicine has 3 trainees at LTFT. The UHB treatment of Bank Holiday Monday working was discussed and thought not to comply with terms and conditions of service. It was suggested that the BMA is contacted to give advice to trainees. Feedback to the next LTFT meeting would be helpful.
Radiology has no issues to report with their 4 LTFT trainees, 2 of whom are on maternity leave.
Pathology has a high percentage of LTFT trainees with 11 currently working part time. Two trainees have recently been told they must complete part of their training full time with only 1.5 weeks and 2 weeks’ notice. This issue is being taken up by Dr Goodyear with the training programme director and Deanery lead for the specialty.
ACTION: Helen Goodyear to follow up pathology issues with TPD to discuss why this has been the case.
Helen Rickhuss suggested that it was very important to have foundation trainee representation for LTFT and the committee welcomed this suggestion and agreed as LTFT training is becoming increasingly popular in the foundation years.
ACTION: Helen Goodyear to raise the above at the next FPMG meeting in order to identify a foundation LTFT trainee representative and also ask for a LTFT foundation advisor.
Anaesthetics has not seen any major issues across their 9 trainees working part time. Emily Johnson raised a query regarding how LTFT slots work in relation to the master rota when trainees ask for changes. She completes this rota 6 months in advance. Where there are extenuating circumstances, it may be acceptable to ask Emily to change the rota but otherwise all agreed that multiple changes are not reasonable and the trainee must arrange a swap for themselves, in the same way fulltimers do and inform the department once it is arranged. Trainees will be informed that they must make swaps themselves when the master rota is sent out.
A query was raised in pathology regarding changes to working days e.g. from a Tuesday to a Thursday which delivered exactly the same programme as had been signed up to on the LTFT programme forms. This is acceptable as the trainee still gets the same quality and quantity of experience.
General Surgery has 6 trainees working at LTFT, one of whom is a new LTFT trainee.
It was discussed that return to practice forms may benefit from specialty adaptation to reflect the specialty’s competencies better. In surgery, no college advice has been given regarding return to practice. Forms have been altered in Paediatrics and the committee were informed that it would be very straightforward to make minor alterations according to specialty needs. Helen Goodyear advised the committee to take their suggestions to training committee meetings.
Claire Murphy, the new RCOS LTFT Careers Advisor, has liaised with Deaneries regarding LTFTT and asked for responses to a number of questions. Helen Goodyear had responded on behalf of HEWM and made the point that attitudinal change to LTFT is needed in surgery and this needs to be led by the college.
ACTION: Helen Goodyear to raise the issue of ensuring there are LTFT representatives on all training committee boards at the November PMDE meeting. / HG
HG
HG
11 / Contact Lists
Maddie Meades distributed print outs of the current LTFT Specialty Advisors and Lead Trainees lists and amendments were invited.
ACTION: Maddie Meades to update contact lists on the website and pass to PMDE team for updating email distribution list. / MM
12 / Any Other Business
The next LTFT Training Forum of COPMeD will be in Cambridge on 1st October 2013 and will be held by the newly appointed Chair, Alys Burns who is deputy Dean of the East of England. On this date, Helen Goodyear will be unavailable due to the Paediatrics Exit (START) Assessments and therefore Elizabeth Smith kindly volunteered to attend on behalf of HEWM.
ACTION: Helen Goodyear to share details of LTFT Training Forum with committee attendee.
No further business was raised. / HG
13 / Date of Next Meetings
Date: January 28th 2014
Time: 10.00 – 12.00
Venue: TBC
Date: June 26th 2014
Time: 10.00 – 12.00
Venue: TBC