NHS EXECUTIVE & THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON
London & Kent, Surrey & Sussex Regions
London, Kent, Surrey & Sussex Paediatric SpR Programme
News Page - 2003/4
| 11th February 2004 | With the further development of the London Deanery web site, this site will cease to be the main paediatric SpR site from 1st April 2004. It will continue to be available as a conduit for news and comments. the main site will be at http://www.london-pgmde.ac.uk/Paediatrics/index.asp. |
| 11th February 2004 | Keith McKay will take over as the Specialty manager from Gary Waltham on 23rd February 2004. |
| 11th January 2004 | Wendy Reid has been promoted to Postgraduate Dean. She will retain responsibility for Paediatrics as will be the dean responsible for the North east and North central patche of the London Deanery. Ian Hastie will be the Dean responsible for the South London patch. |
| 11th November 2003 | The timetable for the National Grid process is likely to be as follows: 2nd and 9th January 2004 - advertisement in the BMJ, 31st January 2004 - closing date, week commencing 15th March 2004 - interviews. There will be a National grid process this year in Clinical Pharmacology, Community Paediatrics, Endocrinology, Gastroenterology/Hepatology/Nutrition, Immunology/Infectious Diseases/Allergy, Intensive Care, Metabolic Medicine, Neonatal Medicine, Nephrology, Neurodisability, Neurology, Oncology, Respiratory Paediatrics, and Rheumatology. There is a single unified person specification for the National grid posts, which is available on the RCPCH web site. |
| 8th November 2003 | The first version of the placement proposals for March 2004 onwards is now in the private area of the site. This version has been produced after this weeks Regional Advisor/Trainee mentorship meetings. A final Programme directors' meeting will take place next Tuesday, 11th November. |
| 7th November 2003 | The placement options for trainees appointed at the December 2003 interviews are now on the site. These are indicative only - final placements will be customised to take factors such as LAT experience into account. |
| 7th November 2003 | The Programme Directors and Regional Advisors have just completed 3 days of individual meetings with trainees. The exercise was thought to be very useful by the RAs and PDs, and probably by the majority of the trainees. 42 trainees took up the opportunity for a meeting. 6 trainees were unable to come on any of the 3 days. Therefore, 48 of the programme's 135 current NTN/VTN holders attended or would have attended had it been possible; this is 35%. As with the low return rate for the annual questionnaire (which also runs at approximately 1/3 of of SpRs on the closing date, rising to between half and 2/3 after reminders), the Programme Directors are perplexed by the low number of trainees wishing to have input into training decisions. |
| 30th October 2003 | IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM THE DEANERY RE APPLICATIONS: "There is currently an unofficial postal strike. The closing date for applications for the current recruitment round is Friday 31st October. However, due to the strike we have extended this date to 6th November, by which time the back log of post should of hopefully reached us. If you know of any SHO's etc who are applying, please encourage them to either hand deliver, fax or email their application form. If they fax or email, they must also put a hard copy in the post." |
| 3rd October 2003 | The advertisement for recruitment to NTNs and VTNs for March 2004 has been published in today's BMJ. The latest person specification and candidate application packs are on this site, available through the download page. |
| 3rd October 2003 | The timetable, as it develops, for the trainee/regional advisor mentorship meetings, to be held in the first week of November, is now on the site. |
| 3rd October 2003 | The NHS has produced an Appraisal Pack (available as a Word document) for trainee doctors which is supposed to be comprehensive and is designed to have all College assessment and appraisal documents and forms incorporated into it. All trainees will be expected to be using it in due course. |
| 3rd October 2003 | The dates for interviewing for NTNs to start in September 2004 are now on the recruitment page. |
| 10th September 2003 | Dr Sean Devane is relinquishing the role of Lead Programme Director from the end of September. Dr Susanna Hart is taking his place. |
| 10th September 2003 | Dr Wilson Bolsover is stepping down from the chairmanship of the STC from the end of September. Dr Sean Devane is taking his place. |
| 15th August 2003 | The list of dates for the neonatal monospecialty teaching days has been updated. |
| 15th August 2003 | The Deanery held interviews yesterday for the remaining LAT vacancies. 22 candidates were expected. 2 did not appear. 3 were not appointable. 17 were appointed, of whom 7 wishes to come to the London (Southern) programme. Unfortunately, again not all posts were filled, with 8 vacancies remaining. No unit has more than one vacancy. The final list of placements is in the Private Area. |
| 25th July 2003 | The programme and the prospectus for the Paediatric education Programme (PEP) for the 2003/2004 academic year is now on the site. |
| 15th July 2003 | The Deanery now has a form to be completed when applying for the RITA G assessment (completion of training assesment) to indicated intentions for the Period of Grace. Technically, it is assumed that SpRs will stay in post during the Period of Grace unles they formally resign from their contract giving 3 months notice. Many SpRs assumed that this was optional. The purpose of the form is to make intentions clearer, so that posts are not reserved for trainees who are at the same time making arrangements to go elsewhere. This problem virtually paralysed one training unit recently when 3 trainees left from posts that were reserved for their Period of Grace. |
| 15th July 2003 | The text of the letter sent to all flexible trainees by the Dean Director is now on the site. Interestingly, it does not repeat the assertion that supernumerary flexible posts will disappear in March 2004. |
| 15th July 2003 | The next version of the placements to be proposed to the Dean is now on the web site, in the private area. There has been another resignation and a move to the retainer scheme. There will be a LAT interview on 14th August. |
| 15th July 2003 | The final programmes for PEP days for this academic year have just been put on the site. The programme for 2003/04 will appear shortly. |
| 8th July 2003 | Larissa Kerecuk and Nik Johnson have joined the STC as trainee representatives. Larissa will be based at Pembury Hospital, Tunbridge Wells, from September 2003 to September 2004. Nik is undertaking research at St George's Hospital. |
| 4th July 2003 | The Regional Advisors and
Programme Directors have set aside 3 days during which to hold "SpR
Surgeries". This is an opportunity for SpRs to make an appointment
to meet with them to discuss training issues. This is not a RITA
meeting, it is a meeting that takes on the mentoring aspects of
discussions that were often tagged onto RITA meetings in the past.
The dates and venues are as follows -
Wednesday Nov 5th - London Deanery, ULCC Boardroom, HR
Training Room
Thursday Nov 6th - Senate House, Room 102, Room 103
|
| 28th June 2003 | The implications of the method used to distribute the additional NTNs for our programme are becoming clearer. The allocation formula was designed deliberately to produce additional training posts in areas (i.e. Workforce Development Consortium areas) that had fewer training posts in relation to their population (i.e. a weighted capitation formula). That is why additional numbers were given to Kent, Surrey and Sussex and none were given to London. This will allow additional trainees to be taken on, without an increase in posts in teaching hospitals/specialty units. While in the past, trainees have usually spent 18 months out of 5 years in teaching hospitals/specialty units, from now on this is likely to be between 6 and 12 months. |
| 27th June 2003 | The final final final version of the placements to be proposed to the Dean is now on the web site, in the private area. There has been one more resignation. A final final final final version is likely to be needed! |
| 27th June 2003 | The programme for the nutrition PEP days in Chichester is now on the site. |
| 26th June 2003 | 9 of the remaining 22 vacancies have been filled by LATs recruited from the NTN interviews. For the other vacancies, there will be a recruitment round as follows: the advert appears 27/6/03, closes 11/7/03, shortlisting takes place on 24/7/03, interviews are on 14/8/03. |
| 26th June 2003 | The final final version of the placements to be proposed to the Dean is now on the web site, in the private area. There are a few more changes, mainly to proposed slot-sharing arrangements, arising out of a late notification of approval to join the flexible scheme. |
| 17th June 2003 | The final version of the placements to be proposed to the Dean are now on the web site, in the private area. There are a few changes, mainly to proposed slot-sharing arrangements. |
| 14th June 2003 | The Programme Directors are meeting on Tuesday 17th June to finalise placements for September, particularly reviewing proposed slot-sharing arrangements in the light of resignations from the Programme. |
| 14th June 2003 | 28 NTNs have been allocated
to new SpRs over the last week. 24 are to full time trainees.
2 are to trainees who have elected to start training flexibly. 2 are to
senior entry community paediatric trainees. SpRs in this cohort of
trainees can expect to spend 2 years in core training, and subsequently
1out of 3 year in a teaching hospital/specialty unit, and 2 years in a
general hospital setting. The number of trainees that the
Programme has been allowed to recruit in each of the last 5 years has
been as follows 1998/99 - 23 1999/2000 - 25 2000/01 - 8 2001/02 - 14 2002/03 - 21 2003/04 - 26 The dip 3 years ago is responsible for the vacancies in the Year 3/4/5 programme this year, but allows trainees in that cohort to have 12 to 18 months in a teaching hospital/specialist unit. |
| 18th May 2003 | Some changes to the draft proposed placements have been made due to trainees going out of programme. |
| 14th May 2003 | Of 225 applicants for SpR numbers, 117 have been shortlisted for the interviews in June. |
| 14th May 2003 | The next set of proposals for placements has been posted in the private area of the site. The Programme Directors will be writing to trainees and tutors over the next week. These are the proposals being put forward to the Postgraduate Dean. |
| 8th May 2003 | Of the 100 additional NTNs to be created in Paediatrics, 18 have been allocated to the Workforce Development Confederations covering Kent, Surrey and Sussex. None have been allocated to London. There is no additional funding to accompany these numbers. |
| 8th May 2003 | Two trainees have offered to make themselves available to give advice on research to trainees considering an opportunity to go out of programme for this purpose. They are Michael Perkins at SGH and Ellie Hancock at RSCH. |
| 8th May 2003 | The venue for the Management PEP teaching modules (15th and 22nd May) has been changed from Kingston to St George's. |
| 23rd April 2003 | The changes to the structure of the flexible training programme have become clearer. The Deanery cannot afford to continue the with current supernumerary training scheme. The Workforce Development Consortia are not willing to provide additional funding. Therefore, supernumerary flexible training posts will disappear completely by March 2004. All flexible trainees will be allocated to full time posts in slot-sharing pairs. The only exception will be where a trust voluntarily agrees to have a single flexible trainee occupying a full time post. If necessary, a waiting list for flexible training will be held (this already happens in other parts of the country). |
| 22nd April 2003 | The Programme Directors have started the current 6-monthly series of placement meetings. By the deadline of last Friday, 48 of 166 SpRs had returned a completed training interests questionnaire to be considered at the meetings. |
| 9th April 2003 | David Hall, President of the RCPCH, is planning to hold seminars on the future provision of services in paediatrics, the education and training implications etc, with SpRs. |
| 28th March 2003 | There is a new web site run by the London Deanery for the London Paediatric SpR programme. At present, it only includes information on the London (Northern) programme. This site will merge with it in due course. |
| 28th March 2003 | The advertisement for places in the London SpR programmes will appear in the BMJ on 4th April. The closing date will be the 18th April, shortlisting will be on the 8th May, and interviews will be in the first week of June. There is more information in the recruitment page. |
| 18th March 2003 | The Deanery has asked for the placements for all flexible trainees to be reviewed and changed if possible into job-sharing posts. This will happen at the April Programme directors' meetings. Job shares will be funded by the Deanery at the equivalent of one whole time trainee plus one traditional supernumerary flexible trainee. |
| 18th March 2003 | A model Training Agreement for SpRs and their trainers to sign at the onset of a training period is available from the download page. |
| 15th March 2003 | The current placements proposals are available through the private area of the site, via the September 2003 links. The Programme Directors are meeting in April to consider further future placements. Flexible trainees should note that the Deanery is going to ask for all flexible placement proposals to be reviewed, and changed where possible into job-shares. |
| 14th March 2003 | The posts in the Programme are being re-numbered so that posts which have 2 separate 6 months modules within a 12 month post (e.g . general paediatrics / community) will have one number assigned to one module and another number assigned to the other module. This makes no difference to placements, only to the number assigned. In the majority of cases, where pairs of posts rotate between one another, one number will apply to one component (such as the community component) and the other number will apply to the other component. The current placements proposals, with the posts renumbered, are available through the private area of the site. |
| 12th March 2003 | The STC needs two trainee representatives to replace Cath Bevan and Jenny Handforth. Nominations are requested by the end of March 2003, and should initially be forwarded to Cath or Jenny. The Deanery will organise a ballot of trainees if an election is required. |
| 12th March 2003 | Important note for flexible trainees: The Deanery will ask the Programme Directors to review the placement proposals that they have put forward for all flexible trainees to ensure that as many flexible trainees as possible are placed in slot sharing placements rather than in supernumerary placements. This is likely to affect the majority of flexible trainees, and is likely to lead to changes in the proposed placements. This should be borne in mind when filling in the annual Programme Directors' questionnaire (available from the download page) to be sent shortly to all trainees. |
| 12th March 2003 | 100 additional training numbers will be provided for paediatrics in the coming year, though no extra funding will accompany them. This will be a temporary increase in the number of SpR trainees in paediatrics, and temporarily reverses the recent cuts in SpR training numbers. |
| 12th March 2003 | MedNet is a confidential counselling service for doctors working in the London Deanery or in SpR programmes managed by the London Deanery. It is funded by the London Deanery. For doctors whose workplace is south of the Thames, the point of contact is through the Dept of Psychotherapy, Springfield Hospital, London SW17 7DJ. |
| 12th March 2003 | The Deanery will shortly be writing to all flexible trainees to ask them to confirm that their reason for being on the flexible programme is still current and valid. |
| 10th March 2003 | Some summary statistics about the London (Southern) programme have been compiled. |
| 7th March 2003 | The London Deanery will shortly advertise 4 senior entry training numbers for community paediatrics. Interviews will be on the 12th June 2003. The Person Specification is available on the site. Those applying will have to have 3 years of approved training at registrar level (e.g. 2 years of LAT experience, plus a year of some other experience that the RCPCH will recognise). |
| 3rd March 2003 | If you have not caught up with the change in trainee numbers from the old South Thames numbers to the new London and Kent, Surrey & Sussex numbers, here is a table of NTN conversions and VTN/FTN conversions. |
| 2nd March 2003 | The regular questionnaire to all trainees from the Programme Directors will be sent out again shortly. It is available electronically as quest.pdf from the download page, where a rich text and a Word 95 version can also be found. |
| 28th February 2003 | The person specification to be used this Spring has been put on the site. |
| 27th February 2003 | Only 7 of 32 potential vacancies in the London Paediatric SpR programme were filled at the LAT interviews on Monday 24th. |
| 12th February 2003 | The Department of Health has issued a press release explaining how much easier it will be to arrange child care for NHS workers in the future. It explains how to get help sorting child care problems. |
| 12th February 2003 | There is likely to be a manpower crisis at middle grade level in the London area from March. There are many clinical fellow posts unfilled in the region. In addition, there are many SpR posts unfilled, and there are fewer applicants for the LAT posts advertised by the Deanery than there are vacancies available. |
| 30th January 2003 | A new edition of the RCPCH
Training Handbook will be published soon. Here is what it will say
about SHO teaching "There should be 3 hours per week dedicated to education and training. The department should demonstrate its commitment to ongoing teaching. The format can include: tutorials, lectures, ward-based teaching and attendance in outpatients for structured teaching and feedback. Departmental meetings should be arranged so that the majority of SHOs can attend, i.e. at shift overlap times, including early morning meetings and lunch times. The educational content should be directed towards the career aims of the SHOs and sessions should be interactive whenever possible. Educational sessions should be bleep free and it should be possible to attend >70% of sessions (ie an average minimum of 2 hours per week)." |
| 7th January 2003 | The advertisement for places on the National Grid appeared in the BMJ dated 4th January 2003. The closing date is 31st January 2003. |
| 7th January 2003 | There is a recruitment event underway for LATs for posts starting in March 2003. The details are in the recruitment page. The closing date for applications is 17th January. Interviews will be held on Monday 24th February. |
| 14th December 2002 | The list of placements in the private section of the site has been updated again today. This update (from the situation 2 weeks ago) includes the LATs appointed earlier this week, 3 changes due to maternity leave, and an additional change due to a trainee planning to leave the country. |
| 14th December 2002 | The RCPCH has apparently decided that up to 2 years in approved (and assessed) LAT posts can be counted towards a CCST programme. |
| 14th December 2002 | An appointment round to fill the remaining vacancies in the Programme with LATs was held earlier this week. Unfortunately, a number of placements have remained unfilled. The Deanery will be contacting the trusts involved, which will have to look for LASs. The STC has asked the Deanery to conduct another appointment round for LATs in the new year. |
| 14th December 2002 | All opportunities to transfer from the full time to the flexible training programme for this financial year are now filled. Therefore, no new approvals to convert to flexible training will be approved by the Deanery until after April 2003. |