Absence at Regional Teaching Policy

It is vital that any absence/Time out of Training is reported to the LET and your current clinical post, be that in hospital or in General Practice. This also needs to be updated on your Eportfolio and declared on your Form R at ARCP.

Absences: (additional guidance, all absences with the exception of Annual Leave and study Leave(unless these fall on a regional teaching day) must be reported)

Sickness/Covid Absence (periods of less than 30 days)

Needs to be reported to your post supervisor and also notified your employer the LET - nhc-tr.letgpacademic@nhs.net, update as an absence lozenge on your Eportfolio.

Sickness (period greater than 30 days)

Needs to be reported to your post supervisor and also notified your employer the LET - nhc-tr.letgpacademic@nhs.net, The Programme Support Officer will update this absence on your Eportfolio

Emergency Leave/Special Leave Requests Paid

Must be requested via your employer the LET  – nhc-tr.letgpacademic@nhs.net, Your post supervisor should also be aware of this type of leave, update as an absence lozenge on your Eportfolio.

Maternity/Adoption/Paternity/Parental Leave

Must be requested via your employer the LET – nhc-tr.letgpacademic@nhs.net & CC for information michelle.taberham@nhs.net – The Programme Support Officer will update this absence on your Eportfolio

Unpaid Leave/OOP (Out of Programme)

Must be requested via your employer the LET – nhc-tr.letgpacademic@nhs.net & CC for information michelle.taberham@nhs.net – The Programme Support Officer will update this absence on your Eportfoli

Absences whilst part of a Regional Teaching Group:

For those who have been designated a regional teaching group all absences should be reported including Annual Leave, Study Leave or where the rota has not allowed you to attend teaching.

You must include the following contacts when reporting a teaching absence:

Your Group Leader (To whom you have been allocated and would have been notified of)

and also, either Lisa Pickup for GP Teaching or Karen Chambers for Hospital Teaching,

Lisa Pickup - lisa.pickup1@nhs.net

Karen Chambers - karen.chambers17@nhs.net

The LET  – nhc-tr.letgpacademic@nhs.net

as well as your CS for your current post.

Anyone that does not report an absence and is missing from a teaching session will be recorded as DNA (Did not Attend), an email will be sent to you from the Group Leader requesting the reason you have missed the teaching session, you should respond to this email promptly, outlining the reason for absence AND copying in All the relevant people listed above.  If you do not reply, then this absence will be recorded as Unauthorised Unpaid Leave and this may impact on salary and time in training.

NOTE:  All absences (not annual leave/study Leave) must also be updated on your Eportfolio and declared on your Form R submitted as part of the ARCP Process.

A common mistake that many doctors in training make when recording absence is to list the days they would have been rostered in and not the whole period.  e.g if you take sick leave on Friday and come back Wednesday, that is counted as 5 days as it includes the weekend and any nonworking days. Regardless of the fact that you may have nonworking days or don’t work the weekend.

Please be aware that not informing your employer, or your clinical placement, or purposefully not adding Time out of Training on your Form R or 14fish E-portfolio is a probity/revalidation issue and will be taken very seriously.