Health Education England receives many enquiries from GPs about support for returning to general practice after a career break as a result of making an application to the Performers List with NHS England. NHS England has a duty of care to patients to ensure that GPs on the performers List are fit to practice, and will want to make an assessment about any training needs before being included on the Performers List. Currently the advice is that Induction and Refresher training is not appropriate for a career break of less than 2 years duration, and is advised for all GP returning after 5 years. Between 2 and 5 years an assessment on the requirement for further training prior to rejoining the Medical Performers List will be made by NHS England responsible officer or deputy.
Health Education England in the West Midlands is supporting doctors who need induction or refresher training. Broadly these fall into 3 groups.
- GPs that have been out of a substantive post for more than 2 years and have a recommendation for additional training by NHS England or the GMC.
- Overseas doctors for example from South Africa or Canada who have trained in general practice in their own country, but who are not familiar with the NHS.
- Doctors who have been suspended by the GMC, but who now wish to come back into practice.
Any interested doctors should apply on-line at NHS jobs as per details below. Enquiries and further information should be directed by email to
IR@wm.hee.nhs.uk.
Aim
The aim of this scheme is to produce four General Practitioners (GPs) per year. Doctors will need to apply on a competitive basis for these posts through NHS jobs.
Prior to applying for placement on the scheme, Doctors will need to have undertaken the MCQ (knowledge) and SS (simulated surgery) assessments and passed both. The assessments are funded by the Doctors themselves. This is run by the National Recruitment Office based in Birmingham, link http://gprecruitment.hee.nhs.uk/.
If shortlisted for practice placement, then they will be required to have an interview with the Associate Dean and practice representatives to assess their suitability. If the doctor is accepted they will be placed in a training practice, with an allocated trainer for a period of normally 6 months full time.
During the time in practice the doctors will be expected to keep an updated professional development plan (PDP), keep evidence of learning across a broad spectrum and attend the practice training sessions. It may be that they can utilise an e-portfolio to demonstrate their learning.
Near the end of this time they will be expected to pass the nMRCGP Applied Knowledge Test to demonstrate their updated knowledge.