Planning your Return
Approximately three months prior to your anticipated return date, you should discuss your return with your ES or TPD.
At this meeting, the Planning your Return form must be completed.
The purpose of this meeting is to identify any areas of concern you may have and to create a bespoke package to facilitate a smooth return to clinical practice.
Useful things to consider when planning your return are:
Enhanced Supervision
It is strongly recommended that a period of enhanced supervision is considered for all Postgraduate Doctors in Training upon their return to allow the individual to regain confidence, clinical knowledge and skills in a supported environment. This time should not be used to provide service provision alone, and should be tailored to individual training needs, particularly in relation to duration and exposure to different clinical environments. Examples of enhanced supervision arrangements are:
- Inpatient/Ward work - supervised ward round and clinical procedures
- Outpatients/Clinic work - with extra time for discussion with supervisors
- Acute services – Emergency Medicine/Assessment Units/Delivery suite, supported by supervisors
- Optimisation of skills/procedures – supervised theatre and procedure lists, simulation, courses as appropriate
- Amendments to out of hours work - having additional support e.g. paired with a colleague for first on call to reduce workload and allow time for disucssion
- Experience relevant to ongoing work commitments. For example, if a GP trainee was returning to a Paediatric rotation, it may be relevant for this time to be utilised in acute Paediatrics.
Where it is agreed that a period of enhanced supervision is not required, it may be enough for a pairing or buddy system to be in place for the trainee for a few days on their return.
