The Course

The ST3 year is spent working in General Practice.  A full list of the Training practices attached to the Portsmouth and Isle of Wight VTS is available in the Trainer section of this website.  You will usually have been allocated to a practice at the start of your scheme.  Hopefully you have already been working with your Trainer and have spent time in your practice getting to know the systems and team.

Your time in Practice will largely be spent consulting with patients in surgery, within patients' own homes and in an Out of Hours Centre.  You will be supervised at all times by your Trainer or by another GP nominated in their absence.  You will have a tutorial each week often with your Trainer or with another member of the Practice team. This time may be spent in many different ways depending on your learning needs.  You  may focus on particular clinical topics, random case analysis or working on areas for the nMRCGP.  This is the examination which must be passed in order to gain a Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT) and be eligible to practice as a GP.  See the nMRCGP section of this website for further details.

Further information on the ST3 year is available in the Handbook downloadable here.  Information on pay and contracts for GP Registrars is available on the Wessex Deanery Website - www.nesc.nhs.uk, the BMA website - www.bma.org.uk or the NHS Employers Website - www.nhsemployers.org

Timetable

You can view the current terms timetable here.

If you wish to download the Aims & Objectives please click here.

Start the Day

Most days on the Day Release Course will begin with a session called 'Start the Day'.  This is a half hour slot where a GP Registrar is given the opportunity to lead the groups learning.  Topics can be anything from case presentations, memorable patients, current controversies or personal challenging experiences.  Something interesting and relevant to General Practice would be perfect. 

Each Registrar will be timetabled for a 'Start the Day' session.  It is your responsibility to find out when you are down for this.  If you are unable to present on this day please let Tracy know.

This session will give you the chance to develop your teaching skills.  One of the Course Organisers will feed back to you afterwards focusing on areas that went well and highlighting anything that could have been done differently.  The feedback can be used in your ePortfolio and for the teaching component of appraisal.

End of the Day

At the end of the day, the room needs to be returned to its normal format, with all chairs and any tables in their original positions.  If everybody helps with tidying up every week the job is done much more quickly.  Many hands make light work.  It is accepted that on occasions those registrars who come over from the Isle of Wight may have to rush off to get taxis to connect with ferries, and may not be able to help.

Out of Hours

There are specific slots allocated for training.  These will normally be on weekday evenings with a few also available at the weekends.  This should ensure that there are sufficient training places available and that GPRs are put into times when the educational experience will be maximised.

We would like to phase the experience through the year so that you start with observation and finish by working independently.  Karen Fisher (Development Manager) will therefore keep track of the sessions done by each GPR and endeavour to match them to the programme.  It will be assumed that GPRs are progressing normally unless the trainer states specifically otherwise to Karen, when they can be decelerated or accelerated as appropriate.

It remains absolutely essential that Karen Fisher is aware of all GPRs who are going to attend Out of Hours sessions and all sessions must be booked in advance.  Yu can contact Karen via This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or telephone 023 9268 4535.

Feedback

We are very keen that you enjoy the VTS, catch up with friends over lunch and have some fun.  The opportunity is there to meet up socially after the VTS day, or even form study groups for the nMRCGP.

Learning together on the VTS needs to focus not only on your educational wants, but also your needs - these aren't always clear initially.  We need your feedback to keep sessions relevant, and of help to you now and also in the future.  The sessions we run have been shaped from feedback from previous Registrars, and have often evolved considerably.  On occasion we'll take a risk on a new format - be kind if we don't get it right the first time!

Your feedback is vital.  To help us help you, please can you:
 

• complete and hand back the feedback forms for each session
• be honest, and suggest any ways we can improve the session
• have a chat with us
• email any thoughts to Tracy - she can then anonymise them and feed them back to us

We want to hear from you.

In addition, we would appreciate your thoughts on the website.  We are very keen that it smoothes the organisation, saves relevant information that is easily accessible, and links with Trainers and Tutorials.

If you see a way of improving it please talk to us or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Interviews

We perform three month interviews for mutual feedback.  The form is downloadable here.