Minutes of SAS Doctors Educational Representatives Meeting
Friday September 12th 2008
Attending:Ming SchraederDorset HFT
Roger Palmer Hampshire PCT
Tony Ward Basingstoke
Ambil RajagopalIsle of Wight
John StubbingDeanery
Apologies Received from:
Tim BattcockPoole
Mark PughIsle of Wight
Tony BlakeDorchester
Roger Laishley Bournemouth
Andrew OswellWinchester
Anisa NazeerSalisbury
Yousry KamelPortsmouth
Wagih MoussaSouthampton
Introduction:
John welcomed everyone and brief introductions were given.
SHA Funds for Education and CPD for SAS Doctors
Bids for the money made available by the DOH to the SHA for SAS Doctor Development have now come in. The total amount of money bid for has exceeded the £250k available for Hampshire and the IOW (approximately £1200 per head).It was confirmed that the funds are available per head of SAS doctor, not per full-time equivalent. The Deanery will begin to analyse the bids from the Trusts in an effort to make a fair distribution. In addition JS has made a bid for a small proportion of the total funds to be kept at the Deanery to allow for Specialty Specific Meetings to be run with Deanery support.
Dorset and Wiltshire hospitals although in the Wessex Deanery fall under the South West SHA, not South Central. The distribution of funds to hospitals affected is being done differently, on a pro rata basis.
Bids for the funds within the Hants and IOW area came in under five broad categories. These are as follows,
1. Group non-clinical CPD;i.e. a series of local study days on professional development such as Leadership, Influencing with Integrity, Negotiating skills etc.
2. Article 14 Candidates; Money specifically targeted to individuals to aid with Personal Development towards achieving Article 14. (one trust suggested an interview between the potential article 14 candidates if there is not enough money for all would be applicants) This includes cost of backfill of post.
3. Clinical Tutor appointment; Money used to put a Clinical Tutor or equivalent (SAS Doctor Programme Director) in place specifically for SAS doctors
4. Specifically targeting individual SAS doctors; for development as Educational Supervisors or Mentors, and giving these doctors a management role in the Trust. This includes a Trust that would send 6 Associate Specialists to the three day residential Keele Management Course for SAS Doctors.
5. Generically Study Leave;asking for more Study Leave for all, (with no evidence supplied that all study leave budget is currently being used up).
Although no final decision has been made some of these categories will appeal to the Deanery and SHA more than others, and a distribution as soon as possible will be made after the analysis of bids.
Many if not all the Trusts put in bids under category 1. There was some discussion about whether this sort of CPD could be offered on a Regional basis, bringing down costs and making more funds available for other components of the bid. However it was felt that if the CPD was provided away from the base Trust attendance numbers would drop, possibly dramatically, and the proposed benefit would not occur. It was therefore decided to support the local delivery of these often similar CPD days.
Article 14 PMETB Applicants
PMETB had contacted the Dean to ask how many individuals in which specialties have been asking the Deanery for top-up training. The number at the time of the meeting remains zero, but discussion revealed there are individuals in at least three Trusts who are looking at the Article 14 route. This has been found to be costly; bids for an individual needing six months of training are in the region of £25,000. This of course will take away from money for the rest of the SAS doctor cohort. One possibility is that if the individual would benefit the Trust by achieving article 14 equivalence, funding could be shared between the SHA funds available and the Trust itself offering to top-up as required. JS is happy for any SAS doctor who wants to use the Article 14 route to contact him, and he will try to provide advice on how to proceed.
New Contract Implementation
Trusts are progressing at varying rates with the implementation of the Specialty Doctor contract. JS is aware of a document that describes that there should be time for non-clinical administration in a post on top of a session reserved for CPD/Training. Action - JS to identify document and distribute. There was some discussion about the award of the CPD/Training session to SAS doctors who were part-time. Some form of pro rata award would be made, and should be decided locally with the help of the Local Negotiating Committee (LNC) which has the advice from the local BMA industrial relations officer.
Two Trusts which are more advanced in their Implementation process are awaiting guidance from the BMA on appropriate factors that would aid the individual doctor to pass through the second threshold of the Specialty Doctor pay-scale. Local LNCs could help with identifying what sort of thing is required to pass through the second threshold. It is possible this could be achieved through an appropriate Personal Development Plan set at the annual appraisal. This is an advantage of the New Contract over the previous situation where some Staff Grade doctors work was of such a nature that re-grading to Associate Specialist was nigh on impossible.
Optional and Discretionary Points Rounds of 2007-2008 need to be completed and the financial component of the award needs to be taken into consideration before a final offer can be made to an individual concerning his/her position on the New Contract pay-scale. These awards are made for work already done.
Regional SAS Doctors Meeting – Plans for next meeting
The Study Day at Chilworth remains on course for October 20th, and nearly half the places are already taken. The workshops are all being asked for in approximately equal numbers. Norma Delaney has asked to help Wagih Moussa with the job planning workshop, and JS will help with the re-grading workshop. Unfortunately Mohib Khan is not able to keep his agreed presentation slot and the BMA will ask the new Chairman of the SASC to attend in his stead. We should know if this is possible before the end of September.
Implications of MMC on Service Grades
Many FTSTA’s in specialties will not be able to get into run through training posts and in a year or so will either have to change specialty, leave the country or even medicine or enter the new Specialty Doctor Grade. None of those present were aware that any preparations were being made for the impact of these doctors into the Specialty Doctor grade which could begin as early as August 2009 and would be likely to occur in quite significant numbers from 2010 onwards.
Any Other Business
No issues were presented
Date of Next Meeting
It was agreed that a meeting should take place after Christmas. Friday January 30th 2009 at 09.30 in the New Deanery site in Otterbourne.