Support for GPs in their Mid to Late Career

The BLMK Training Hub provides a variety of training, support and development opportunities for GPs who are in their mid to later careers (GPs with more than 5 years of working in general practice). This page highlights some of these offers along with details for how to access them. We also have a Mid to Late Career GP Strategic Lead – Dr Yuvaraj Venugopal who is more than happy to have individual conversations with you and help you access any of these offers. To contact Raj, email: v.yuvaraj@nhs.net

Mentoring and Coaching

Background:

We offer mentoring and coaching to GPs working in primary care in Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes. Mentoring and coaching is a confidential conversation with an experienced GP from the BLMK area who can provide advice and support on a number of topics and professional challenges or even just a safe space to explore issues, concerns or worries that may be arising in your day to day role.

The mentoring and coaching that we offer is fully funded and you can access up to six hours of sessions. We take a flexible approach to the mentoring with sessions being offered throughout the week, virtual or face to face and is a very small time commitment.

Why access mentoring and coaching?

Many professionals access mentoring or coaching at a variety of stages of their careers, from the early stages where it can be useful to explore how you’re settling into your new role and help you to gain confidence to later career where you can explore what direction you would like to take your career in. It can also be useful for GPs who are considering returning to work and would like some support through the transition or GPs considering taking up a partnership role and looking for advice and support through this process.

Who can access the mentoring and coaching?

This offer is open to ANY GP or GP trainee working at a practice within Bedfordshire, Luton or Milton Keynes. This includes:

• Salaried GPs
• GP locums
• GP partners
• GPs who have left general practice or are on a career break but are considering returning to work
• GP trainees
• GPs working in the urgent care services such as HUC or MKUCS
• GP educators

If you’re not sure whether mentoring and coaching is for you or would like more information, please don’t hesitate to contact our Mid to Late Career GP Strategic Lead, Dr Yuvaraj Venugopal at: v.yuvaraj@nhs.net or the mentoring project manager, Helen Worthington-Smith at: h.worthington-smith@nhs.net

To express an interest in receiving mentoring and coaching, please complete the following expression of interest form:  https://forms.office.com/e/Pa8UTjs4KXhttps://forms.office.com/e/ECfNafaSA3

Interested in becoming one of our GP Mentors? We are currently closed to new applicants but if you are interested in becoming a GP mentor in the future, please contact h.worthington-smith@nhs.net in order to log your interest.

If you would prefer to have an external coach/mentor from outside the BLMK area, please contact h.worthington-smith@nhs.net

GP Retention Scheme

The GP Retention Scheme is a package of educational and financial support to help doctors, who might otherwise leave the profession, to remain in clinical general practice. It is managed by NHS England.

For more information including details around how to apply, click here.

You can also receive mentoring and coaching to support you to while on this scheme through our mentoring and coaching offer detailed above. To apply, click here

Becoming a GP Trainer

For GPs working in a practice in Bedford Borough, Central Bedfordshire or Luton, the BLMK Training Hub is responsible for managing the approval and re-approval process for GPs to become GP trainers as well as for practices to become training practices and PCNs to become learning organisations.

If you would like advice or support to become a GP trainer, please contact: hannah.baker11@nhs.net

We are also offering GP trainers the opportunity to access our GP mentoring and coaching offer as described above. If you would like to get matched with a GP mentor, please complete this link: https://forms.office.com/e/Pa8UTjs4KX

GP Symposiums

For GPs in Bedford Borough, Central Bedfordshire and Luton, the GP symposium team at Bedford Hospitals Trust arrange ten Saturday morning symposiums each year. These sessions cover a variety of clinical topics and take place virtually. If you would like more information, please contact: chandima.johnson@bedfordhospital.nhs.uk

Milton Keynes GP Network

There is a network for GPs living and working in Milton Keynes which meets regularly for learning sessions and social events. If you are new to the area or considering moving to Milton Keynes, the network can also help you with recommendations and useful information about moving to the area. If you would like to join the network, please contact: v.yuvaraj@nhs.net

Support with GP Recruitment

The Training Hub is able to support practices who are struggling to recruit GPs. There are many reasons why a practice may be struggling to recruit and we take a bespoke approach to each practice who approaches us for support. We usually start off with a MS Teams meeting or phone call to talk through your specific needs and then come up with a plan together which may include working on updating your advert, discussing how you can make the role more attractive, talking through the support you could provide to a prospective applicant and agreeing on an advertising strategy. We have supported many practices with their GP recruitment this way with positive results.

If you would like to speak to a member of our team about your GP recruitment then please contact: h.worthington-smith@nhs.net

Lantum – Flexible Staff Bank

The Training Hub recognises that there is a need to support both GPs working as locums and practices requiring the support of a locum. We have therefore partnered with Lantum to create a digital, flexible staff pool. Through this offer, practices can book locums for sessions without paying any agency fees (as long as the locum they are booking is from the BLMK locum pool) and GP locums can easily find roles and get paid the very next day through the Rocket Pay function. GP locums who sign up to the BLMK staff pool can also access the BLMK Training Hub support offers including mentoring and coaching and our Health & Wellbeing App (ShinyMind).

If you are a practice wanting to sign up to Lantum then you can do this here: https://info.lantum.com/blmk-pm-signup

If you are a GP locum wanting to sign up to the Lantum flexible pool then you can do this here: https://info.lantum.com/blmk-staff-signup

Leading Beyond Boundaries:

Leading Beyond Boundaries (LBB) is a non-hierarchical, system leadership course which is open to all staff working across the BLMK ICB, including all staff working in Primary Care. The aim of the course is to bring together people who are working across different teams or organisational boundaries (such as a GP working with their local council or a voluntary organisation. The course will equip you with the knowledge and skills to facilitate this way of working as well as bringing you together with other leaders from across the system who are looking to work in this way. Through the LBB course, many attendees have forged strong connections which has facilitated closer working across organisational boundaries.

The BLMK Training Hub has five LBB alumni (Helen Worthington-Smith, Hannah Baker, Joanna Finney, Jay Willett Kirsty Shanley) and if you’d like to speak to any of them about their experiences of the course then please contact the training hub at: ccs.blmk.traininghub@nhs.net. You can also read an article about Jay’s leadership exchange which he completed as part of his time on LBB by clicking here

The BLMK ICB usually runs two cohorts of LBB per year. If you would like to find out when the next cohort is running then please contact the BLMK ICB Workforce Development Academy for more information at: ccs.blmk-wda@nhs.net

Stepping Into My Shoes

Stepping Into My Shoes is an initiative run by the BLMK ICB which allows anyone working across the system to shadow someone else within the system to learn more about how different teams work and to help develop and promote working across the system. If you would like more information about this, please contact: ccs.blmk.traininghub@nhs.net

Health & Wellbeing Support

The BLMK Training Hub has a variety of Health & Wellbeing support available for all staff working in Primary Care which includes free access to the ShinyMind app. For more information about these offers please visit our Health & Wellbeing page here: link to page here