Bath GPVTS Elective

We hope you will enjoy your VTS elective.

You will spend half of each week attached to the dermatology department, where Dr Cari Aplin, an ex-GP, will be your supervisor. SHOs have found this attachment to be tremendously useful.

The other half of each week is elective time. There are lots of educational opportunities for you here. Michael will help you get the most from them! However, the elective cannot be taken outside the Bath "patch".

Most most SHOs will plan their elective around their learning needs in a variety of subjects (e.g. ophthalmology, ENT and psychiatry). However, some will spend all their elective learning about one subject in depth. For instance, one of our SHOs had a particular interest in community medicine and spent her elective attached to that department.

Planning your elective

It's important that you see your GP Educator at least 2 months before the start of the elective to start planning it, mid-way and then at the end for supervision. Contact Paula (01225 824894) to arrange the appointments.

Failure to do so will means that:

• it won't count towards your GP training certification

• you would be in breach of your contract.

Guides from previous SHOs

• Nick Ware has written a super guide which you should read before planning your elective: How to make a success of the elective.
• He's also agreed to let me put his reflective diary of the elective on the website. You may wish to use it as a model - it's an excellent example of the evidence that I need to see before I can sign you up.
• Kate Rees has also put together her own guide which is full of useful ideas and information:  Elective tips, useful contacts and Kate's learning objectives.
• Jenny Crushell has let me add Jenny's elective diary and she has also produced her own page of useful contacts and tips.
• Last but not least, the most recent additions - Phil Weldon's elective diary, Dan Murphy's elective diary, and Hannah Cross's elective diary.

VTR2 forms

Alan Wolstenholme, Certification Officer at the RCGP, has stated:

"We will accept a VTR2 form for electives signed by the yourself [ie the Course Organiser] and would be grateful for an additional, separate statement detailing the contents of the elective. The VTR form should state the post was full time if overall the training was on a full time basis. The additional statement may be either a letter or the elective form that you have used for many years.

"One of the problems we have encountered has been receiving a number of VTR forms for the same elective period, stating the specialty was part time, often for one session per week. Now that the PMETB has taken over responsibility for certification, they are requesting far more detail in the certification records we send to them than the JCPTGP used to need." (15 November 2005)

So,

• use a single VTR2 form for the whole of the 6 months,
• state that the post was full-time,
• write a statement with details of the contents of the elective. This latter can be a cut-down version of your elective portfolio:
  • I suggest a page of A4 about the dermatology portion on the elective (learning objectives & outcomes, how achieved), and
  • half a page of A4 for each of the other components of the elective.

Do let us know if this isn't clear.
 

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Bath GPVTS Elective - Certificate of Satisfactory Completion

SHO Name:                                                    Elective dates:

A          Pre-elective meeting.

This needs to be at least 8 weeks before start of elective post.

ACCEPTABLE LEARNING PLAN?                                                          YES / NO

• discussed and agreed with Scheme Organiser

                                                Date:                           CO's initials:

B          Mid-elective review.

            Second month of elective post.

EVIDENCE OF SATISFACTORY USE OF SESSIONS SO FAR?        YES / NO

• time fully used
• in line with learning plan

 

LEARNING PLAN REVIEWED AND ADAPTED APPROPRIATELY?  YES / NO

                                    Date:                           CO's initials:

C         End-of-elective review.

            Up to 1 month after end of elective post.

EVIDENCE OF SATISFACTORY USE OF ELECTIVE SESSIONS?     YES / NO

• time fully used
• in line with learning plans

LEARNING PLAN SATISFACTORILY IMPLEMENTED?        YES / NO

                                                Date:                           CO's initials:

GPVTS ELECTIVE PERIOD SATISFACTORILY COMPLETED?            YES / NO

• mandatory for completion of Elect 2 form
• please attach to Elect 2 form

 

signed: ………………………………..    (Scheme or Course Organiser)

dated: ………………………………….

 

Last update: 29 August 2007