What should trainees do when the VTS or modular study day is not running on Thursday afternoons?
The half-day release course is classed as study leave, so when it is not running the trainee should be working in the practice as part of their agreed contracted hours. We do find many trainees don’t get the clinical experience they require for General Practice in just 18 months, so we would encourage an extra clinic of about 2 hours. An alternative is to use the time created as formal study leave and explore an aspect of general practice, e.g. attending an outpatients, undertaking an audit, visiting another practice etc. It is also possible to use the time created as “in lieu” in order to experience Saturday morning extended hours or “red eye shift” OOH. Many trainees form learning sets and usefully continue to work towards MRCGP. There is no “rule” and practices will differ but remember this is working time and we have to justify what we are paying for to the public. In summary this is a matter for the employing training practice and the trainee within the bounds of the employment co
