Training Placements and Rotations
Structure /Induction / Teaching /Away days / Post Summaries
About the Posts:
Barnet VTS offers a 3 or 4 year scheme consisting of at least one year in GP.
Each trainee will follow a scheme which is comprised of:
1. SHO (ST) jobs from a selection of the following;
A&E, Care of the Elderly, Paediatrics, Orthopaedics or Obstetrics and Gynaecology (all based at Barnet Hospital).
Psychiatry (based at either Edgware or Northwick Park Hospital).
Palliative Care (based at the North London Hospice).
2. Innovative Training Posts (ITP) which are based part time in General Practice and part time in a speciality. The specialities offered include GUM, A&E, Public Health, Psychiatry and Education.
3. GP Registrar (ST3) This is the last post on the scheme and lasts one year.
The precise composition of each trainee's scheme will vary according to availability. (see Rotations)
GP Registrars who have selected a Barnet Trainer may also join the scheme for 1 year.
Possible Posts currently offered:
For the first two years of your training you can find a below possible examples of rotations in the barnetvts.
1. O&G, Psych, Gp, Geriatrics
2. Psych, Palliative Care, Cardiology, GP
3. Psych, Geriatrics, O&G, Medical Education ITP
4. Orthogeriatrics/Geriatrics, Psych, Med Ed ITP, O&G
5. Psych, Med Ed ITP, O&G, Geriatrics/Orthogeriatrics
6. Geriatrics/Othogeriatrics, O&G, Gp, Psych
7. Gp, Geriatrics/Orthogeriatrics, Psych, Paediatrics
8. Geriatrics, Psych, Paediatrics, Public Health ITP
9. Geri, A&E/Orthopaedics, O&G, Psych
* The psych posts might be at Edgware/Barnet/Northwick Parlk or Royal Free
**Palliative Care is based at North London Hospice
Guidelines for Registrar workload
These are suggest guidelines for Registrar workload:
- 5 weeks holiday per year
- 30 days study leave per year including VTS 1/2 days
- 8 clinical sessions per week with 1 VTS session and 1 self directed learning session.
- When there is no VTS the Registrar will do another surgery i.e. 9
surgeries per week.
This is currently being reviewed and we will place an update here as soon as we have the information.
Induction Days
These are arranged for each 6 month post, and leave should be organised to make attendance possible. This is not study leave.
It is most important that you attend the induction days, when you will not only learn organisational aspects, but clinical topics to give you confidence when starting a new job. Also some educational opportunities are only open to those who have attended the induction day, e.g. communication skills training in psychiatry.
Half Day Release - Thursday pm. 12.30 - 4.30
Thursday afternoon teaching continues throughout the 3 years, and provides an excellent training for General Practice, a forum for discussion and an opportunity to explore thoughts and feelings about patients. It’s fun too!
Attendance is compulsory. If you are unable to attend for any reason, you should inform the Course Administrator for the scheme on 020 8216 4936.
Lunch is usually provided from 12.30 and is followed by a participative lecture/discussion on a relevant topic to General Practice. Tea is at 3pm, and this is followed by a small group discussion lasting one hour.
Annual Away Days.
Away days are an opportunity
for all VTS trainees to engage in topical discussions relevant to general
practice and get to know each other in an informal setting. These include
outdoor walks, dinners, team games and even a spot of karaoke!
Post Summaries
These post summaries have been written by current VTS members. There is more detailed information on the intranet that is well worth reading if you are about to start these jobs.
Care of the Elderly
This is a busy job but overall very good and helpful for general medicine too as the on-calls cross cover general medicine and care of the elderly. There is good exposure to areas such as breaking bad news, end of life decisions and dealing with social problems. The seniors are very supportive and the post gives you a feel for the roles of the multidisciplinary team and how to interact with them.
Obstetrics and Gynaecology
Barnet is an extremely busy department but the consultants are genuinely approachable and supportive with an experienced registrar team. This is a good opportunity to gain further experience in routine and higher risk obstetric care, complications of early pregnancy, gynaecological malignancies and common gynaecological conditions. There are regular sessions for CTG teaching and obstetric emergency updates. Overall it will give you a lot of confidence when dealing with obs and gynae problems in general practice and is a job you won’t regret doing.
Palliative Care
The North London Hospice is based in Finchley with a purpose built inpatient unit and daycentre. The pace of life is very different to what you will have been used to in hospital which can be a nice change and it is wonderful to have the opportunity to really get to know the patients under your care. There is a typically a lot of multidisciplinary involvement in hospice care and this post will give you a good insight into how the various teams interact and work together with the patient and their family.
Accident and Emergency
A six month stint in the A&E department will give you a little taste of everything. There is good exposure to resus and majors which is helpful when you move into general practice as you quickly learn who is sick and needs to be in hospital and who care be managed better in the community. Minors is typically full of primary care problems as well as minor injuries and fractures and it is a good place to practice your communications skills alongside your suturing technique. The staff grades are generally very friendly and helpful and when the consultants are available on the floor they are happy to give advice and review patients. There is a good relationship between the SHOs and their counterparts on the speciality teams (particularly as they are often on the VTS themselves). It is tiring, antisocial, hard work and always stressful but can be fun too and is a job you will always be glad you did.
Paediatrics
The paediatric post is generally one of the best loved on the scheme. The department is very well run with friendly approachable consultants and registrars and a lot of support. There is structured teaching most mornings and a good split between ward work, acute take and reviews on the paediatric assessment unit. There is the opportunity to attend specialist clinics during the fixed study leave that is included in the rota and the experience you will gain throughout this post will stand you in good stead in primary care.
Psychiatry
Both the Northwick and Edgware posts are really useful for general practice. There is a good exposure to acute psychiatry and a lot of support in the community psychiatry part of the posts. It will give you experience in learning which people with mental health disorders are ‘well’ or ‘unwell’ and how to best support them. It will also give you an increased awareness of the various community services that you will be liasing with in general practice.
ITP Posts
ITP posts are a relatively new type of post that has been part of the Barnet VTS training for the past 2 years. It is a good way to ease into general practice with a timetable split 50/50 between a training practice and a position in another speciality.
Our current ITPs describe it as “a taste of GP without the pressure” as the time constraints and exams present in the Registrar year are very different. It can be a good opportunity to really concentrate on general practice as a speciality, improve your consultation skills and get a firm grip on what you need to focus on to get the best out of your remaining hospital experience.
GP Registrar (ST3)
The bit you’ve all been waiting for! Hopefully most people going through the scheme now will have had some postgraduate exposure to general practice in the ITP position but if you haven’t it can be a bit of a culture shock. We are lucky to have some excellent training practices and GP trainers but expect to need to put in a lot of hard work to get the most out of this year. There is a lot to learn and a lot of exams and assessments to do in a short time but you will get a lot of support from your trainer and your colleagues on the VTS. Hopefully at the end of the year you will pass the MRCGP and qualify as a new GP – then the real learning starts.
Provisional Rotations 2012
Good Luck!