This page outlines the data that have been collected from Yorkshire & Humber Local Office and validated at a workshop (7th of November 2023) to map their as-is business processes for Less Than Full Time Training.
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No. | Reason selection | Circumstance | Supporting documentation |
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1 | Disability or ill health | This may include ongoing medical procedures such as fertility treatment. | A letter from GP/ Occupational Health Consultant/ Medical Specialist which includes:
It must be on letter-header paper or be from an official email address which can be validated. The letter should be dated within the past 3 months. |
2 | Caring responsibilities | Trainees (men and women) with caring responsibilities (e.g. for children, or for an ill/disabled partner, relative or other dependant) |
It must be on letter-header paper or be from an official email address which can be validated, dated within the last three months. - TBC |
3 | Welfare and wellbeing | There may be reasons not directly related to disability or ill health where trainees may benefit from a reduced working pattern. This could have a beneficial effect on their health and wellbeing (e.g. reducing potential burnout). | Applications relating to personal choice and/or individual professional or lifestyle needs will be considered by the TPD. Whilst these applications are not subject to judgement, agreement is dependent upon service considerations. |
4 | Religious commitment | A trainee has a religious commitment that involves training for a particular role and requires a specific time commitment resulting in the need to work less than full time. | How is the nature of request captured? |
5 | Flexibility for training / career development / opportunity e.g. development of a broad career portfolio | A trainee is offered a unique opportunity for their own personal/professional development, and this will affect their ability to train full time (e.g. training for national/international sporting events, or a short-term extraordinary responsibility such as membership of a national committee or continuing medical research as a bridge to progression in integrated academic training). Flexibility for training and career development with the option to train less than full time with flexibility that might enable development of a broad career portfolio. | Applications relating to personal choice and/or individual professional or lifestyle needs will be considered by the TPD. Whilst these applications are not subject to judgement, agreement is dependent upon service considerations. |
6 | Flexibility for non-training career development / opportunity e.g. non-medical activity requiring specific time commitment | A trainee is offered non-medical professional development (e.g. management courses, law courses or fine arts courses) that requires a specific time commitment resulting in the need to work less than full time. | Applications relating to unique opportunities should be supplemented with written details of the unique opportunity, together with relevant letters of support. |
7 | Other | How is the nature of request captured? | How is the nature of request captured? |
As-Is Processes
In trying to map the LTFT end-to-end process we came up with 4 main stages in the order in which they would occur namely:
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No. | Role | Responsibility |
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1 | Postgraduate Doctor in Training |
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2 | Training Programme Director (TPD) |
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3 | School Hub administrative team |
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4 | Medical Staffing (Trust) |
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5 | Flexible Working Champion/Guardian of Safe Working |
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6 | HEE Professional Support Associate Dean |
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7 | Educational Supervisors |
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8 | Sponsorship Team in Yorkshire and Humber |
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9 | HEE Deputy Postgraduate Dean |
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Application Numbers
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Pain Points in the process
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No. | Pain Point / Area to improve | Comment |
|---|---|---|
1 | Revised CCT end date is asked on the form, however, there are no Local Office resources available to support the trainee apart from the Royal Colleges guidance and calculator. This has to be manually verified before inputting to TIS. | |
2 | Given the new policy to extend flexible training, there has been a large number of applications and it has meant that the categories no longer exist. This in turn has made the triaging of applications almost ad-hoc and unmanageable when it comes to prioritising the processing as and when the applications are received based on the reasons. E.g. there is no Local process to prioritise the processing of Childcare/Disability/Health reasons applications over wellbeing ones. | |
3 | It can take significantly more time where applications are submitted with less than 12 weeks notice to process due to approval required from Trust in Y&H process. This may require chasing the Trust who are also operating within their own constraints. | |
4 | Y&H uses Tracker spreadsheets in order to support the processing of applications. Currently a Local and a National spreadsheet that have to be completed manually. This is an admin burden and prone-to-error practice. | |
5 | There isn’t always an opportunity in the Y&H process for trainees to be discussing with the Trust directly regarding their ability to accommodate for LTFT for a rotation, as the trainee may not be at the specific Trust they are going to be rotating yet where they intend to train as LTFT. | |
6 | Y&H has a extensively documented process with Trainee, Associate Dean and Postgraduate Dean involved, preparing cases statements, with timescales made aware to the parties involved. However, in practice, this has not yet happened as there have been no rejections yet. |
Application Numbers
As the categories are no longer technically used in Y&H (inline with Gold Guide) they list on a tracker spreadsheet an overview of the application. Since starting new process, Y&H have 210 applications listed against wellbeing and lifestyle.
LTFT Email templates
These are the email templates managed by specialty teams and LTFT Admins that are sent to trainees in the relevant events - (TBC)
No | Email Template | Body / Content | Sent to |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | Approval | Dear Dr <Name><GMC> Re: LTFT Placement Confirmation – <SCHOOL> <SPECIALITY> Further to agreement with your Training Programme Director, I can now confirm that your less than full time post in <SCHOOL, SPECIALITY> at <Trust> has been agreed in principle and you should commence at <PERCENTAGE> WTE, including appropriate on call, on <START DATE>. If you are to be in a slot share, your TPD will confirm the name of your slot share partner. It is advisable that you keep me informed of any changes to your training, i.e. change in hours, parental leave, long term sickness or out of programme so that the necessary funding for your post can be allocated accordingly. Please be aware that your less than full time status will have an impact on your CCT date and future ARCP dates. HEE Yorkshire and the Humber has a dedicated Supported Return to Training (SuppoRTT) team who are available to support the transition of existing trainees who are returning to their training programme following a period of absence. We have lots of resources available, of which details can be found on our website. Alternatively, please contact the SuppoRTT Team via england.suppo-rtt.yh@nhs.net. If you are NHSE Sponsored (Tier 2/Skilled Worker visa holder) please ensure to complete the required reporting form within 5 working days to notify the National Overseas Sponsorship team and Yorkshire and Humber Sponsorship team of the change to your circumstances. If you have any questions or queries, please contact the Yorkshire and Humber Sponsorship team at england.sponsorshipsupport.yh@nhs.net. If you have any queries or need any further information with regards to LTFT training, please do not hesitate to contact me. Kind regards <Insert Signature> |
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2 | Send to Trust for review email (Rotation Contact) | Dear X, RE: LTFT Application Less Than 12 Weeks’ Notice I am writing to you regarding <Trainee name and GMC/GDC number>. They have applied to go LTFT from <START DATE>. This is less than 12 weeks’ notice and we understand this may be difficult for you to accommodate, as per our LTFT policy we are writing to you to request you approve or decline this request. We require a decision by <2 weeks deadline>, otherwise we will assume it can be accommodated. The application form is attached, if you need any further information, please let me know. Kind Regards <Insert Signature> |
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3 | Send to Professional Support email | Dear Team, RE: LTFT Trainee Requiring Professional Support The below trainee has applied to go LTFT at <PERCENTAGE> from <START DATE>, their TPD has indicated that they require additional support from yourselves. If you require additional information regarding this application please review their Trainee File and see their detail within the LTFT Tracker. Kind Regards <Insert Signature> |
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4 | Send to Deputy Dean for Supernumerary Approval email | Dear Fiona Bishop, RE: LTFT Trainee Requiring Supernumerary Approval Please see attached LTFT application form that requires supernumerary funding. Please can you review this and let us know if it is approved or declined. All the information is on the form but if you need anything else please let me know. Kind Regards <Insert Signature> |
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Rejection | |||
Appeal procedure |
Documents
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