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Representing GP trainers

August 2006

The General Practitioners Committee (GPC) chairman has sent an open letter - see below, to all GP trainers throughout the UK to inform them of the work of the GPC, and particularly to request that they send us their contract details so that we can communicate directly with them in the future, to keep them informed of the state of negotiations, as well as to consider with them ways of ensuring that they are properly represented.

Open letter

To: All GP trainers in the UK
[via course organisers]

Our Ref: HRPM/JG

8 August 2006

Dear GP trainer

Representing GP trainers
The BMA’s General Practitioners Committee (GPC) continues to be very concerned that, as a GP trainer, you are not properly rewarded for the work that you do. Over the recent years the GPC has put forward strong evidence to the Doctors’ and Dentists’ Review Body (DDRB) calling for a substantial uplift to the GP trainers’ grant to recognise your skills, workload, and continuing professional development, as well as your administrative and premises costs. We have also called for the need for an extra payment to be made to those GP trainers with a GP registrar who require additional or extended training and for a retainer payment to be made to trainers without a registrar at any particular time. Unfortunately, the DDRB has, so far, felt unable to recommend a realistic uplift due to lack of evidence from the Health Departments and a perception that there is little or no problem in recruiting and retaining trainers. We have written to the Health Department about this on numerous occasions, and the English Health Department is finally undertaking its own review of GP trainers to submit to the DDRB. The GPC is concerned that this review concentrates primarily on the service commitment of GP registrars and F2 doctors, and not on the valuable input from GP trainers. We will be responding in detail to this to ensure that the DDRB is aware that the service provided by trainees is only one part of the equation, and that the grant must also reflect the time required for training and supervision and the fact that other ongoing costs such as premises, CPD, etc need to be taken into account.

The GPC understands your frustration with the unacceptably low level of the trainers’ grant. We want to ensure that we are able to communicate with you, to keep you informed of the state of negotiations, as well as to consider with you ways of ensuring that you are properly represented (for example, by supporting the development of a GP trainers’ network). We may also want to contact you in order to collect additional evidence to submit to the DDRB. We therefore need to ensure that we have a comprehensive database of GP trainers throughout the UK.

I am therefore writing to you via your local course organisers to ask you to complete and return the attached tear-off slip or to send an email to the GPC office (email: jgoodway@bma.org.uk, using the subject heading of GP trainers’ database) with your name, practice address and preferred email address in order that we can update our database and ensure that you are kept fully informed.

The GPC also wants to hear your views, and we encourage you to do this via the GPC discussion forum on our website . Please note that you will need to log in to the BMA website first in order to access the discussion forum.

We look forward to receiving your contact details.

Yours sincerely

DR HAMISH R P MELDRUM
Chairman
General Practitioners Committee

GP trainers’ database

Name:

Practice address:

Email address:

Please return to: Julie Goodway, General Practitioners Committee, BMA House, Tavistock Square, London, WC1H 9JP