Training in the Practice
We are proud and privileged to be an Accredited Training Practice. This means that we are responsible for the training of new and existing doctors at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
We are proud of the reputation we have built as far as teaching and training is concerned. The practice has been training for more than 30 years and a considerable number of doctors now practicing locally have in fact spent a period of training with the practice.
We have doctors at many stages of their post graduate training, most of them training to become General Practitioners themselves, with a small number doing part of their hospital based training with an intention to specialise in the hospital speciality. The majority of our registrars are in their final year after training for some 9 years and their next post is as a fully registered GP.
The benefits to having training doctors for our patients is that they bring with them experiences and training in the most up to date methods and ideas which helps to keep our experienced doctors equally up to date.
All of the doctors are closely supervised and have access to further advice. There is a close supervision and assessment process of the doctors training and part of this may involve demonstrating their skills at consulting, which involves videoing a number of consultations.
There may be occasions when you present with an interesting and educational condition, which it is very useful to demonstrate to some of the other doctors in training, and also medical students who may be attached to the practice.
We also have final year medical students from Keele Medical School and have been impressed by the quality of their work and their capabilities in general practice.
We also have nursing and medical administration students. If a student is to be present during your consultation your permission will be asked for at the time of booking your appointment. If you do not wish a student to be present this will not affect your treatment.
Any doctors who are training at the Practice will work under the supervision of one of our GPs and will endeavour to work to the same high standards as the rest of our team.
The types of training doctors that you might encounter include:
Medical students
These are undergraduates in their Final year of training at Keele University who work with the Practice in order to experience General Practice before they qualify as doctors. They stay with us for 8 weeks.
They are usually allocated 20 minute appointments to talk to, and if appropriate examine patients before discussing any doubts with the supervising GP. If any treatment is issued, this will be by the supervising GP.
Foundation Year 2 (FY2)
These are doctors who have already completed a minimum of 1 year of work as a qualified doctor under close supervision- during this time they will have had to satisfy their supervisor of their competence to progress further in their career. They are close to deciding which path to take in their career and work with the Practice to experience General Practice before making this decision. They stay with us for 4 months.
They are usually allocated 20 minute appointments to talk to, and if appropriate examine patients before issuing any treatment. They will be closely supervised by a GP until they have demonstrated their competence.
Registrars
These are doctors who have completed a minimum of 2 years work as a doctor and have chosen to train as GPs. The training programme is 3 years long and you may therefore see registrars in their 1st (ST1), 2nd (ST2) or 3rd (ST3) year of training. They stay with us for between 6 months and 1 year.
They are allocated between 10 and 20 minutes to consult with patients and will initially be closely supervised by a GP until they have demonstrated their competence. Before they qualify as GPs, they will have to undertake further examinations and demonstrate to us that they are able to practice to an excellent standard.
Registrar doctors working at the practice need to video consultations for training purposes. When the doctor is videoing you will be informed of this when you book your appointment and your written consent to take part in the video consultation will always be asked for before your consultation. You may decline to participate if you wish.
