GP Specialty Trainee employment
General Practice Specialty Trainee (GPST) Employment in General Practice
All doctors on GP Specialty Training Programmes complete eighteen months in general practice six months early in their programme and their final year.
Currently there are 335 training practices in Scotland with 622 trainers.
NES are responsible for all recruitment and allocation of GP Specialty Trainees and each trainee was employed by the GP practice during their practice component.
The problem
This responsibility led to increased tension in the training practices as a result of the increasing employment complexity:
- delays in starting training for some GPSTs waiting for visas
- delays in starting with paperwork
- inconsistency across Scotland of treatment of trainees in terms of leave, sickness reporting etc.
- inconsistency in managing of maternity leave, special leave etc.
- different policies applied for the management of performance and dignity at work issues
The solution
From 3 August 2011 the GP Trainees working in practice will now be employed NES. This outcome has been achieved through close partnership working between Scottish Government, NES and the Scottish General Practice Committee (SGPC) of the BMA.
A single employer solution will provide:
- more comprehensive HR support
- NES responsibility for visas and dealing with the UK Borders Agency
- clarity of arrangements with an agreed Training Practice Agreement
- definition of the responsibilities of NES, the GP practices, the trainers and the trainees
- consistency of policies and management of trainees across Scotland
- first time this has been achieved in the UK
All GPSTs working in practice will be given a password which will allow access to the GP extranet, a website detailing all our policies and giving access to the NES intranet for employees to make sure all the GPSTs are kept up to date of what's going on and who to contact.
A welcome letter will be going out to all GPSTs in practice on 3 August 2011 with contact details and a password for the extranet site.
If you have any queries about this please contact your local GP Unit in the first instance.
