GP Support Hub

Wave 2

A twelve-month Fellowship, during which the Primary Care Fellow will undertake a program of clinical and academic training, to gain experience across both generalist and specialist sectors (in the clinical area of the fellowship), as well as seeing the full range of primary care conditions.

Clinical areas include emergency care, dermatology, ENT, elderly and frail care, or palliative care.

There are also opportunities for Leadership and Management fellowships.  

Other posts will be in partnership with clinical commissioning groups or universities and may focus on developing new care pathways, increasing educational capital in the community or other projects which align to the aspirations of the GP Forward View and the local STP priorities. 

No leaflet or GP Fellowship manual available until a new intake

Provider

Health Education England

Contact

Phyllis Anderson

Email

PACT@suffolkch.nhs.uk

Website

https://www.hee.nhs.uk/our-work/gp-fellowships

Post-CCT GP Fellowships Process: 2019/20

Background

In line with the GP Forward View, HEE is supporting 75 Fellowships across the Midlands and East region each year.

GP Fellowships are intended to meet current and future primary care workforce needs by supporting both the acquisition of clinical maturity in general practice and extended development in specific clinical or professional areas. 

Current Situation 

A recent review of the Post–CCT fellowship programme in Midlands and East has led to some significant changes in the delivery of Fellowships. These are now being implemented: 

1. Eligibility has been extended from 2 years post-CCT to 5 years post–CCT 
2. In response to stakeholder requests, responsibility for recruitment of future cohorts will move to host organisations
3. Previously HEE M&E has requested expressions of interest in Q1 and Q3 with a view to recruiting Fellows in August and February respectively.  This will now move to an initial focus on recruitment in August followed by an open recruitment cycle for the remainder of the year.  

Eligibility criteria 

• Applicants must be within the first five years of achieving their CCT
• Applicants must hold a licence to practise and have undertaken sufficient clinical work
• Candidates must have undertaken NHS appraisals to maintain their registration on the National Performer List within the two years prior to application for the scheme
• Bidding partner organisations must be UK-based health organisations within the health, social care and voluntary sectors. 

Recruitment process 

We are inviting expressions of interest (EoI) from stakeholders. Priority will be given to EoIs received by April 30th 2019.  It should be noted that whilst GPs up to 5 years post-CCT are eligible for the scheme, there is always significant interest from those finishing their training. This means there is a key window of opportunity to promote the scheme and recruit from those completing their training in August.

Therefore, whilst the application window for providers to make their expressions of interest will not “close”, we will review and select Fellowship proposals from providers on a first come first served basis and recommend submission of an Expression of Interest (EoI) as early as possible in the financial year.  

Once an EoI has been approved, successful partner organisations are responsible for the advertisement, recruitment and appointment of fellows. The employment of, and salary for, the Fellow will be the host provider’s responsibility.  An MoU will be signed by HEE and the host provider (employing) organisation for the provision of the funding provided by HEE to support study time (£9482 per session, maximum 2 sessions).  The additional study grant of up to £5000 will be claimed by the Fellow directly from HEE.

For example, a typical Fellowship would be made up of 4 clinical sessions in a GP practice, 2 sessions education and4 sessions on placement e.g. via a Trust.   Where the host provider is a Training Hub in association with a Practice, 2 sessions would be reimbursed by HEE and 4 sessions reimbursed, or directly salaried to the Fellow, by the Trust.  There are examples of current and past successful Fellowships on the website:

https://www.hee.nhs.uk/our-work/gp-fellowships

We strongly recommend that during the development of the Fellowship, agreement is established between all partners involved. 

Next Steps 

The Expression of Interest (EoI) Form with guidance for completion is included as Appendix 1. 

We invite you to consider hosting a GP Fellow and would welcome an EoI from your organisation.

This must include:

• details of the four sessions to be provided in a clinical, education or research specialism area 
• evidence of agreement with a host Practice / Training Hub for the four sessions in General Practice,
• Confirmation from the Practice / Training Hub or your own Clinical Educator team that support will be provided for the two sessions of study.

Without evidence of the relationship and commitment to the provision of employment and firm details of the Fellowship component, we will be unable to approve your submission. All sections of the EoI form, therefore, need to be completed. 

Please note the host employer will be asking HEE and the placement provider to contribute elements of the salary. We will put in place an MOU for the 2 sessions funded by HEE and there will usually be a Learning Development Agreement (LDA) between the other parties. 

For more information please contact WTHubMidlandsandEast@hee.nhs.uk

Appendix 1

Expression of Interest (EoI) Request Guidance

Please see the guidance points below to support you in completing the expression of interest request.

The following arrangements below will need to be in place.

1. A host employer will need to be identified willing to coordinate the employment and salary for the fellow, receiving reimbursements from both HEE and other providers (s). It is the responsibility of the host employer to pay for every session worked, including a fellow’s personal development time.
2. The fellow will work in General Practice for 4 sessions (2 days per week) or as agreed LTFT pro-rata. 
3. A provider will also need to be identified for the fellow to undertake 4 sessions on placement
   (2 days per week) or as agreed LTFT pro-rata. It will be the provider's responsibility to reimburse the host practice for this element of the fellowship program or vice versa.
4. HEE recommend that discussions take place between the host practice and the provider to ensure arrangements are in place. We, therefore, recommend that during the development of a fellowship, an agreement is established between all partners involved.
5. Once confirmation has been received from a host practice and provider, HEE will reimburse the host practice/training hub £18,963.00 per fellowship to reimburse salary costs for the 2 sessions per week (1 day per week) to be dedicated to studying or as agreed LTFT pro-rata. This will be split into quarterly payments of £4740.75. Please note consideration may be given to applications that include two sessions of personal development where it can be demonstrated that time is required, for example, formal education / academic programmes. 
6. Please note if there is more than one fellow, HEE recommends completing a separate EOI form for each fellowship. Where there are multiple practices willing to host a fellow, please ensure all processes detailed above have taken place and an agreement is in place between host practice(s) and the provider organisation(s). 
7. Where there are multiple topics of research/specialty, these may be combined into one EOI template return, however, the provider organisation must remain the same for all.
   1. All completed EOI templates to be returned to the Workforce Transformation Hub WTHubMidlandsandEast@hee.nhs.uk
   2. The GP Fellowship panel will review each EOI template return and ensure a timely response is provided (per calendar month)
   3. The current cycle of recruitment is open. Priority will be given to EOIs received by April 30^th 2019. We recommend submissions as early as possible in the financial year.
   4. Ongoing support will be provided by the WFT Hub to all stakeholders who have any queries in regard to GP Fellowships.  Please forward all queries to WTHubMidlandsandEast@hee.nhs.uk.

Expression of Interest Request Form

* mandatory fields – all sections must be completed

Please return completed EOI forms to the Midland and East Workforce Transformation Hub via email only to the following address WTHubMidlandsandEast@hee.nhs.uk.