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Bradford's sickness and other leave policy

General Principles

 

Our sickness and other leave policy is generally in keeping with the guidance issues by the RCGP - provided for you below. If you need time off sick, there are 2 aspects you need to think about:

Your employment

  • You should contact your workplace immediately to let them know you can’t come to work. In GP this might be the Practice Manager or your Trainer, in hospital the Rota Coordinator, department secretary or your Clinical Supervisor.

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  • Try to have a conversation or full message exchange - don’t just leave a message and hope it gets through. If you can give them an idea of how long you are likely to be off sick, this is helpful.

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  • You must send sick notes to the correct admin department in your employing organisation – if you don’t, you may not get paid on time.

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  • Your education

If you have more than two weeks’ absence for any kind of leave in addition to study leave and annual leave, this must be made up in full at the end of your training programme

 

If you have been in a post for less than three months, it will not normally count towards your CCT. Even if you have been in a post for more than three months, it is not likely to count towards your CCT unless the e portfolio contains a substantial amount of appropriate evidence (learning log, assessments, clinical supervisor’s report, naturally occurring evidence).

 

See the RCGP guidance on absence from training and additional training requirements If you expect to be off sick for more than a few days, contact one of the TPDs or to your educational supervisor for guidance and support.

 

 

In Summary

Please keep a log of all your leave throughout your 3 year training programme(sickness, parental, maternity and anything else). The 'statement of leave' form above in the blue downloads box will help you.

 

-You must tell ALL of the following people of any sickness and/or other leave which you take:

1. The Bradford Scheme's administrators (Sofya Loren and Safina Akhtar)

2. The Training Programme Directors

3. The Deanery

-Send in sick notes on time.

-Keep a log of your total leave - anything more than 2w in the entire 3 year training envelope needs to be made up.

 

Remember, informing the different stakeholders who need to know is the trainee's responsibility. Failing to do this may mean that the gaps that need making up in your training programme being picked up late and then, only you lose out. So please read this page carefully. It's here to help put you in the know and therefore in the driving seat of YOUR individual training programme.

 

 

 

The RCGP Guidance on Sickness and Other Leave


Absence from training and additional training requirements

The RCGP Certification Unit regularly receives requests from deaneries and trainees asking for advice on the amount of training that a doctor has to make up when they have been absent due to sickness, jury service or through maternity and paternity leave.

 

Although a competency based system is now in place, the PMETB Order still requires a full three years of training to be undertaken, and does not make any allowances for sickness absence, jury service or maternity and paternity leave. In addition, with training increasingly being made up of four month posts, an absence of more than a month within a post could be disruptive to the acquisition of the breadth and balance necessary for a generalist.

 

The following policy should be referred to when a trainee has been absent from training due to sickness, jury service, maternity leave or paternity leave and is a continuation of guidance that was in previously in place.

 

  1. The RCGP will allow time off from the training programme for sickness absence, jury service, maternity leave or paternity leave. However, the sum of these absences must not exceed two weeks over one calendar year. Any sickness and/or jury service and/or maternity/paternity leave taken in excess of this must be made up in full, but not necessarily in the speciality or post where the absence occurred.
  2. Managing compliance with absence from training is a function of deaneries, therefore trainees must advise the Director of Postgraduate GP Education if they are going to be taking maternity/paternity leave and if they have to attend jury service. Trainees must also inform the Director of Postgraduate GP Education of any absences due to sickness.
  3. Trainees should confirm with the RCGP and their deanery that their plans to make up lost time will mean that their programme of training conforms, on completion, with regulatory requirements.
  4. Trainees that have been on sick leave and have returned to training on reduced hours because of an occupational health recommendation, should meet with their Director of Postgraduate GP Education to ensure that they will be completing the required 3 years of training.
  5. It is RCGP and PMETB guidance that training periods of less than three months in duration will not normally count towards a CCT. However, in cases where a GP in training has to make up time lost through sickness, jury service and/or maternity/paternity leave, the College may be able to request that PMETB accept training periods of less than three months towards a CCT as long as a full three year training programme is completed. The final decision regarding this lies with PMETB.

 

QMTS January 2009