Support
Champions
There are four different types of Champions that support junior doctors at The Dudley Group.
Select a section from the menu below to learn more.
Our ‘Guardian of Safe Working’
is Mr Fouad Chaudhry
Guardian of Safe
Working (GOSW)
What is the Guardian of Safe Working?
- A champion of safe working hours for doctors in approved training programmes
- Acts independently of Trust management structure
- Mandatory post
What are the responsibilities of the Guardian?
- Provide assurance to doctors and the employer that doctors are safely rostered
- Receive Exception Reports
- Escalate issues regarding safe working hours
- Has the authority to intervene if patient or doctor safety is compromised
- Can intervene where issues are not being resolved satisfactorily
- Distributes monies received as a consequence of financial penalties
Exception Reporting
Exception reporting is a crucial part of the Resident Doctor Contract, enabling safe working environments while ensuring training requirements are met. By reporting exceptions, such as working over or under scheduled hours, missed breaks, and missed educational opportunities, you can protect yourself and colleagues, enhance training opportunities, and ensure well-being.
Reports must be submitted within 28 days, which will be dealt within 7 calendar days. All the reports will go to Guardian of safe working hours who will review them except the ones for 2 hours or less will be reviewed by Medical workforce team. Anything related to missed educational opportunities will be reviewed by Director of Medical Education.
Exception reports are submitted through the Allocate system, which you should register for upon receiving an email from Allocate.
Please contact us via email if you need assistance with this.
Exception reporting – Doctors Actions
Health and Wellbeing
Champion for Doctors
Wellbeing
The need for the care of the wellbeing of all NHS staff was highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic. We recognise that caring for the wellbeing of staff is paramount. Therefore, this Trust aims to coordinate a high level of support for every member of staff that needs it.
We are incredibly complex, wonderful, organisms. Our lives are finely balanced with an array of different things that we have going on all at the same time! Somehow, we balance our jobs, our relationships, our physical health, our faith perspective, our emotions, and much more, and then manage to go to work and start helping others with their lives too!
Unfortunately, when the fine balance of all of these things is disrupted, our wellbeing can become unbalanced. Stresses or anxieties can become predominant. Fatigue and distraction might become too much for us. We might try to cope by becoming withdrawn or emotionally unstable. This may even have an impact on how we care for our patients.
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, this became more evident than before with high levels of stress and burnout amongst resident doctors.
Wellbeing Champion
In response to this, both around the country and in Dudley, there has been a move towards recognising the importance that wellbeing has amongst our junior doctors. There has also been more focus on the development of services and support geared towards caring for the people who care for others.
The Dudley Group is working towards becoming a place where there is a culture supportive towards the wellbeing of resident doctors. The wellbeing champion for resident doctors (a consultant who spends dedicated time working with wellbeing) is a relatively new post, which demonstrates our desire to be a supportive hospital. Of course, change takes time. But we have wellbeing goals in Dudley, and we are doing what we can to be a place that really cares for junior doctors.
If you would like to find out more about wellbeing at The Dudley Group, then please get in touch.
OUR PEOPLE, THEIR INSIGHTS - Dr Richard Alleyne
Dr Richard Alleyne is The Dudley Group’s Health and Wellbeing Champion. He talks about his experiences in this role.
Forums
There are regular Resident Doctors Forum / Guardian of Safe Working meetings at Russells Hall Hospital. All resident doctors are encouraged to attend. There are also regular meetings with the RCP Associate Tutors and Associate College Tutors to discuss issues more specific to the IMT programme.
Mess
The Dudley Group resident doctors mess is an organisation run by doctors for doctors.
There are two in the hospital, one is located on the ground floor along the corridor to the right of WHSmith, and the other is situated in South block opposite the gym. The mess offers a fridge, microwave, sofas, a TV and computers. It is a comfortable place to relax and rest on a busy shift. It can be accessed 24 hours day and offers social events.
If you are a member of staff at The Dudley Group, and would like more information regarding health and wellbeing, please select the link below to access the DGFT Medical Education platform.
You will need to log in to the platform to gain access.
Champion of
Flexible Working
"More than 1 in 10 doctors in training in England now work LTFT"
The Champion of Flexible Working role was included as part of the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) agreement within the 2016 doctors in training contract.
The role has since been made mandatory and every Less Than Full Time (LTFT) trainee doctor at The Dudley Group has access to a champion of flexible working. The introduction of this way of working offers trainees more flexibility., It also allows them to access support as they carry out their training and other commitments.
More than 1 in 10 doctors in training in England now work LTFT.
There are a number of reasons for considering less than full-time training. Spending more time with family, caring for an ill or disabled partner, relative or other dependent, or dealing with a personal disability or health problem. Acceptance for LTFT is also possible if you are engaging in other aspects of professional development.
As the Champion for Flexible Working, they support Less Than Full Time (LTFT) trainees across the Trust, providing guidance on any queries or concerns. This includes advice on common LTFT matters such as working patterns, pay, rota planning, on-call commitments, and work schedules.
They can signpost trainees and their supervisors to the appropriate departments, resources, and colleagues, and offer support for both training and development in LTFT-related issues. They are also a point of contact for trainees who are considering transitioning to LTFT working.
Having often worked LTFT themselves, they bring first-hand experience of the practical challenges and uncertainties involved, and understand the impact this can have on trainees.
Our LTFT Champion is Dr Indra Thind
There are certain criteria that need to be fulfilled in order to be accepted for Less Than Full Time.
For more information, please select the following links:
Supported Return to
Training (SRTT) Champion
or SuppoRT?
Out of the 50,000 doctors in England currently in postgraduate medical training, roughly 10% are taking time out of training at any one time. A doctor might take time out for a variety of personal or professional reasons, to gain additional experience or qualifications, or a career break. The 2016 Acas junior doctors’ contract agreement committed Health Education England (HEE) to develop innovative, evidence-based initiatives to “remove as far as possible the disadvantage of those who take time out SuppoRTT was developed to provide targeted assistance to help doctors get back “up to speed” when they return to training. There is HEE funding of up to £3000 per trainee. All applications need to be discussed and agreed with the trainee’s educational supervisor prior to being submitted. SuppoRTT can offer:
- A period of enhanced supervision
- Refresher courses and simulation training
- Mentoring or professional coaching
- Conferences and workshops
- Funding for other courses or development, as individually required
"...common to feel that they have knowledge gaps, skills fade or loss of confidence..."
It is common for trainees to feel that they have knowledge gaps, skills fade or loss of confidence following a period of time out of training.
The Supported Return to Training (SuppoRTT) scheme is a nationally driven initiative which aims to support all trainees to return to training safely and confidently after a sustained period of absence. It applies to trainees who have been out of training (or planning to) for a period of 3 months or more i.e., parental leave, sick leave/phased return and those trainees on OOP (out of Programme).
