As a training practice we often have medical students and training doctors working in the practice. You may have an appointment at the surgery or receive a home visit from them. We have been a training practice for almost fifteen years and two of our trainees have gone on to become partners in the practice, Dr McKirdy and Dr Thompson. There is a good explanation of GP training on the BMA website.
GP Trainees
These are doctors who are completing their training to become GPs by spending a year in General practice having worked in hospitals for some years They work with us under the supervision of their trainer, either Dr Howlett or Dr Astle.
From time to time, they work in joint surgeries with their trainer as part of their training. We also make video recordings of some of their consultations to review their performance. You will always be asked if you consent to see a trainee, to have two doctors in your consultation or to have your consultation videoed. If you would like to know more about this please ask us.
We work with the North West Deanery of Postgraduate Medical Studies at the University of Manchester.
Foundation Year Two Doctors
We train junior doctors in the second year of their postgraduate training. This is called Foundation Year Two (FY2). They will be attached to the practice for four months as part of a rotation of posts they undertake based in the local hospitals in Morecambe Bay. Some of them plan to train to be GPs but many will go on to training in another speciality such as surgery or paediatrics. They will work under the supervision of Dr Howlett or Dr Astle.
Medical Students
Medical students spend five years at university. In their second year they spend time in General practice. Two students from Lancaster University are based in our practice. It is very useful for them to gain experience from meeting patients in the surgery and at home. It helps them understand the impact of illness on peoples’ lives far better than they can achieve in hospitals.
They are not qualified doctors and cannot prescribe. All their work with patients is supervised closely. Dr Astle is responsible for medical student training.
Video Consultations
A very important part of the training of doctors is to use videotaped recordings of consultations to assess the doctor’s competence and to help them develop their consultation skills. Video recordings of consultations are used for assessment and may be viewed outside the practice by assessors who do not know the doctor or the patient.
Every consultation that is video-recorded is done with the informed consent of the patient. That means that the patient understands that the recording is being made, the purposes for which it will be used, who will see it and how long it will remain in existence. No coercion will be used to persuade the patient to agree to the recording.
