Junior doctors

WQ.51/2022

WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES BY SENATOR S.W. PALLETT

QUESTION SUBMITTED ON MONDAY 7th FEBRUARY 2022

ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON MONDAY 14th FEBRUARY 2022

Question

"Will the Minister provide details of –

1. the process for appointing junior doctors at the Jersey General Hospital (J.G.H.);
2. the governance and oversight required of all junior doctors at the J.G.H.;
3. the training and educational requirements for junior doctors working at the J.G.H.;
4. the number of junior doctors working at the J.G.H., broken down by month, from 1st June 2018 to 1st February 2022;
5. the number of complaints made by junior doctors about any issue including training, since May 2018;
6. the number of current vacancies for junior doctors at the J.G.H. and when each vacancy became available;
7. the number of junior doctors that have left the J.G.H. during training each year since 2014; and
8. whether any concerns have been raised by any individual or body regarding the junior doctors training programme at the J.G.H.?"

Answer

1. the process for appointing junior doctors at the Jersey General Hospital (JGH);

Foundation doctors and GP trainees are placed with JGH by the Wessex Deanery under the terms of the NHS Education Contract. The Wessex Deanery places 14 foundation year 1 doctors, 13 foundation year 2 doctors, and 8 GP trainees with JGH for each rotation. JGH's medical staffing department is responsible for completing all pre-employment checks and issuing employment contracts for the junior doctors. At any one point, HCS will have some doctors working in

mental health wards and GP practices as well as in the hospital as part of their speciality rotation.

2. the governance and oversight required of all junior doctors at the J.G.H.;

Foundation Year 1 doctors are provisionally registered with the General Medical Council (GMC); Foundation Year 2 and GP Trainees are fully registered with the GMC and Jersey Care Commission. They are all subject to GMC requirements. Each junior doctor has a supervising Consultant for their day-to-day work and an Educational Supervisor. A Foundation Programme Director and Director of Medical Education provide oversight of training programmes.

All trainees are subject to an Annual Review of Competency Progression by an external panel to ensure that they are offering safe, quality patient care, and to assess their progression against standards set down in the curriculum for their training programme.

3. the training and educational requirements for junior doctors working at the J.G.H.;

Training and educational requirements are set at a national level. UK foundation doctors have the same training and educational requirements as Jersey foundation doctors. A link to the Foundation Programme curriculum is below: https://foundationprogramme.nhs.uk/curriculum/new-uk-foundation-programme-curriculum- 2021/

F1s and F2s must attend 60 hours of teaching each training year, 30 of which must be from their core teaching provided by the education department. GP Trainees must attend 70% of their monthly day release days.

4. the number of junior doctors working at the J.G.H., broken down by month, from 1st June 2018 to 1st February 2022;

There are two intakes of doctors throughout the year, so the figures below represent the total for each year and from 2020 this is split into the number in each intake:

5. the number of complaints made by junior doctors about any issue including training, since May 2018;

No formal complaints have been received. We obtain feedback throughout the year from our trainee doctors via junior doctor forums, 1-2-1 sessions with each doctor and HCS also conducts its own survey (also see part h) below).

6. the number of current vacancies for junior doctors at the J.G.H. and when each vacancy became available;

We have no junior doctor vacancies.

7. the number of junior doctors that have left the J.G.H. during training each year since 2014; and

F1 leavers 2014-1 2020-1

F2 leavers 2015-1 2016-2

2018-1

GP Trainees 0

8. whether any concerns have been raised by any individual or body regarding the junior doctors training programme at the J.G.H.?"

There are many informal channels through which HCS receives feedback – usually via the Medical Education Manager, the Foundation Training Programme Director (FTPD) or the Director of Medical Education (DME). Regular junior doctors' forum and postgraduate committee meetings are held which all junior doctors can attend in person or be represented by elected colleagues and where issues relating to training and the working environment are discussed.

Whilst no formal complaints have been received, concerns have been raised recently by trainees about clinical supervision, the amount of day-to-day learning received in some areas, management of medically ill patients in orthopaedics, rotas, and junior doctor contract implementation.

All trainees are invited and encouraged to complete the annual General Medical Council surveys. The results are then collated and then sent to the respective Deanery and Hospital Education/Training departments. Any concerns raised in these surveys require a written response from the DME/FTPD.

The Wessex Foundation School recently undertook a routine monitoring visit of the learning environment for junior doctors in JGH. The visit took place remotely and the visiting team were able to speak with our foundation doctors. Their report highlighted improvements required in junior doctor rota management and supervision and escalation in one department, with some further recommendations made. HCS was already aware of these issues from feedback received from the doctors and was open with the Wessex Foundation School about these matters prior to the visit, advising them of the plans HCS had to address them. The plan to address these concerns has identified the actions required and, in the immediate term, arrangements are in place to remedy and support trainees, sanctioned by the Medical Director. The visiting team also highlighted several areas of good practice across JGH.