This is something that I am hoping all GP trainees, trainers and TPDs will find exciting.  The Bradford VTS website has been the number one GP training platform for the last 20 years.   And whilst I am proud of it, it functions to only provide static information – over 3000 downloadable educational files mainly on “evergreen content” (information which rarely changes with time – like communication skills or ethics).   You cannot interact with the information as a learner or teacher.   It’s a great information resource website but YOU have to learn how to put that information into practice.   

So, I have been thinking of a way to take GP education and training to the next level.  And by that I mean creating a dynamic educational platform whilst still keeping the Bradford VTS website as the static one.  With a dynamic platform, you interact with others and in so doing, you create, learn and internalise new knowledge, skills and attitudes in ways that static sites like the Bradford VTS website cannot do.   So, to give GP education an extra ‘steroid’ boost, I’ve created an online forum where you can chat, connect and learn with and from each other.  This new online forum is called Bradford VTS Learning Circle and it is a dynamic educational platform created to supplement the bradfordvts website.  You interact with others and you learn from each other.    The brains of many can never be beaten by a singleton!

It’s a bit like Facebook in design, but the brilliant thing about it is that posts are organised around themes like RCA, AKT, CBDs, Learning Logs, Projects and so on.

• For trainees – there’s even a channel for those of you who are expecting or new parents. And if you’re an ST3, you might be interested in the NEWLY QUALIFIED GP CHANNEL for support and guidance as you go out there alone without the hand of your GP trainer.
• For Trainers – there’s channels on how to do CBDs, COTs as well as Educational Theory, Methods and Reapproval.
• For TPDs – theres channels for HDR ideas, ARCP and developing Trainer Workshops.

   Yes, we’ve thought of it all!      We’ve thought about ALL OF YOU when developing this platform.   

And unlike Facebook, posts don’t disintegrate after a couple of weeks.  You can find all posts (say) related to the AKT and search on specific terms!   But it doesn’t stop there – you can chat to people online or even video chat if you dare! You can even search for people who have the same hobby as you or who come from the same country.   And the final thing to say about it compared to Facebook is that it is purely for your GP training – so no more messiness of Facebook groups where work and social areas become blurred.  

Oh, did I mention that there’s an app too – both iOS and android – just search for circle and download the Circle Community app (a blue circle with the letter C).  The app means you can “enage on the go” and have the app always open on your phone rather than logging in at a computer.

I think Bradford VTS Learning Circle could be a game changer for many of you – making GP training life even easier and more enjoyable as you network from others all over the UK.  So please do get involved and help make it work, I really think you might like it.  

Ramesh Mehay
GP Trainer (Bradford) 

1.  Facebook groups mixup your social life with your worklife. 
   As a result, your Facebook group becomes a bit chaotic and headache-inducing.  What Bradford VTS Learning Circle does is to separate your training/work life from your social life. Just one area to log in to find the latest information about GP training.
2. Facebook posts only get publicity for that day or at most a week. 
   After a week, they are replaced by new posts.  You might think is good but it is not.   So, if I wrote a post about “top tips for the AKT” say 3 months ago, would it still be relevant for those of you taking it next week?  Of course it would, but to find that post would be difficult because it has had its moment.
3. Facebook posts are hard to search on.  
   And of course, even a post a wrote about a year ago on the AKT or CBD or COT, is likely to be still relevant today.   But in a Facebook group – it has gone!   And as a result, questions which have been posted in the past get posted again and again because their overt visibility has gone.  On this learning platform, you can search and find all posts relating to a particular subject or key word with ease.
4. But the best thing about our learning circle platform over the Facebook one is the fact that our posts are organised into categories and themes.   
   In Facebook, posts are simply vomited all over you in an undifferentiated way.  In our learning circle, our posts are categorised into common themes.  For instance, find all the posts relating to AKT just by clicking on the AKT spacegroup.  Simple.

So the members of this Learning Circle are 1. Trainees, 2. Trainers and 3. TPDs.    There are Spaces for each of these groups and within those Spaces are Channels centred around themes – like the AKT, RCA, CBD etc.

The GP Trainee Space and its Channels can only bee seen by GP Trainees.
The GP Trainer Space and its Channels can only be seen by Trainers and TPDs.
The TPD Space and Channels can only be seen by TPDs.

But we urge all of you to participate the the TRAINING REGION spaces so you can all connect with each other.   And the same for the GEO COMMUNITIES Space which is basically based on where you were born and raised.   GEO COMMUNITIES helps you link up with those born in the same country as you so that you don’t feel isolated and alone.  

Please do not post anything that might identify a patient or a trainee).   Remember, a trainee or patient can be identified without their name and address – if for example, they have a unique characteristic.    So, for example, if you said my patient, who is the only person in Bradford with the rare Auboroskovsky Syndrome, has blah blah blah.  This could potentially identify them and therefore breaks the rules of identity protection and confidentiality.  Please also remember, you are responsible for what you write.

So, please don’t forget, please don’t mention names of anyone.   Do not mention names of specific patients, trainees, trainers or TPDs.   And certainly don’t play the game of naming and shaming.  These platforms are to help us all learn with an element of enjoyment and fun in the process through connecting.  It is positive forum and not a negative one where we moan, groan, name or shame.  Be positive.  Be kind.  Be compassionate.  Be Forgiving.  Be respectful.

As Rudyard Kipling put it…

“I always prefer to believe the best of everybody; it saves so much trouble.”

And I also like his other quote…

“If you judge people, you have no time to love them”