InnovAiT 2008 1(11):776; doi:10.1093/innovait/inn135
© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the RCGP. All rights reserved. For permissions please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org
From the Trainer
Dr Judith Richardson
Assistant Director (GP), South East Scotland
E-mail: Judith.Richardson{at}nes.scot.nhs.uk
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Are you registered with a GP?
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 Are you registered with...
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As I write this with my GP hat on, we are in the middle of University
Freshers’ week and registering several thousand patients.
With my Deanery hat on, we are in the midst of dealing with
trainees requiring extended training for a number of reasons
including ill health. Both of these events have reminded me
of the importance of GP Specialist training Registrars (GPStRs)
being registered with a GP. It is something that I discuss with
the new GPStRs early on in their training and is high on my
list of priorities for several reasons:
- 1 The General Medical Council guidance for doctors Good Medical Practice (2006) section on Health, paragraph 77 states:
You should be registered with a general practitioner outside your family to ensure that you have access to independent and objective medical care. You should not treat yourself.
The GMC website www.gmc-uk.org/guidance/good_medical_practice/health.asp has a number of fitness to practice cases that illustrate the importance of this advice. These are obviously the more serious cases where the doctors obtained drugs fraudulently. However, the message is clear that you should only treat yourself or your family in exceptional circumstances. It is therefore important that you are registered with a local GP before you need to see one.
- 2 As a University Practice, a number of GPStRs have been medical students at the University and are still registered with us. As we are city practice and there are plenty of alternative practices in the area, we have a practice policy that no members of staff or their families should be registered with the practice. The reason for this is to not only protect the individual's confidentiality but also to ensure that there is no conflict of interest in their medical care. For some rural practices, this however is not so straightforward as there may not be an alternative practice to register with. So if you can register with a different GP practice from your training practice and if this is not possible, then be sure to discuss with your trainer your need to be registered with a GP and what the practice arrangements are for this if you have not done so already.
- 3 For some GPStRs the training programme can be a time of great stress, particularly if they have had to relocate far away from family and friends. It is important that if this stress is having a negative impact on them, they have the support of a local GP and wider NHS. If you find yourself in this position, it is really important that you seek help early not only from your GP but also your deanery. The deanery will not only be able to help and advise you but also may have access to support services such as Medic Support in the Oxford Deanery (www.oxforddeanerycdu.org.uk/health/help_for_trainees/). Another useful resource is the BMA Health and Wellbeing web page (www.bma.org.uk/ap.nsf/Content/Hubhealthandwellbeing).
- 4 It is not unheard of for a GPStR to become unwell. The above resources may also prove useful to you. The RCGP has recently given deaneries guidance on absence from training and additional training requirements and this states that:
the total, aggregated allowance for sickness absence, jury service and or maternity/paternity leave must not exceed one week in any post, up to a maximum of two weeks in a twelve month training period, and six weeks over the three-year training period (Please note that one year would be a calendar year beginning from programme start date).
So, if you find yourself in the unfortunate position of being off for longer than the above, it is really important that you contact your deanery and discuss how the additional time will be made up.
- 5 Finally, the RCGP Curriculum Statement 5, Healthy People: promoting health and preventing disease under attitudinal aspects states:
GPs should have an awareness of:- Self—an understanding of their own capabilities and values and that their attitudes and feelings are important determinants of how they practise
- The interaction of work and the doctor's own private life and striving for a good balance between them
Hopefully, by now all of you who are not registered with a local GP have picked up the phone and made an appointment to register. I hope that having done that you will not need to see them again!
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