Help and Support
Knowing where to turn to for help, support, advice or just a friendly ear when you need it is really important! Although this website covers many key topics, it can never be exhaustive in its content and sometimes some topics just need a personal touch. We can't tell you who best to talk to with any specific concerns but hope the following gives you a rough idea of roles and responsibilities of the various people involved in your training. Most importantly, if you don't know who to talk to, ask someone - they're very likely to be able to point you in the right direction!
Contact details for various people are found in the relevant section of this site.
Clinical Supervisor
Probably the consultant you have the most contact with in the job. Responsible for clinical supervision meetings, may well complete many assessments for you and meet with you regularly. They're not necessarily experts regarding the IMT programme or how to use the portfolio however.
Educational Supervisor
Normally allocated for a year they're responsible for your end of year Educational Supervision report as well as reviewing your progress towards both the ARCP requirements but also your career goals more generally. Although often more aware of the changes to the IMT programme and the ePortfolio than the clinical supervisor, they may well only have one trainee a year and so experience and knowledge is often limited in these areas.
College Tutor
Each trust employs a college tutor and although their exact roles and responsibilities vary they normally include ensuring core medical trainees are taught appropriately and are receiving the training experience needed at each trust. If you're having difficulty with certain aspects of your curriculum and your educational and clinical supervisors are unable to address or resolve them, the college tutor may well be able to help, often with a quiet word in the right direction. They often have good awareness of your requirements and the ePortfolio.
Training Programme Director (and Deputies)
With responsibilities ranging from organising training days to ARCP reviews they have a good knowledge of all aspects of your training. If they're not based at an individual trust however they have limited ability to get things changed there and you may find your local college tutor a better place to turn for local advice.
Heads of School (and Deputies)
Overseeing the school of medicine as a whole, complex questions that TPDs aren't able to address may well be raised to this level.
Programme Support Staff
Often your best source of advice and guidance on who to talk to or where to go with something. In Yorkshire and the Humber we're lucky to have many staff with decades of experience between them who know both the system and the people in it inside out. Each region has dedicated programme support staff but HEE also has it's own team who may be able to answer more generic questions or queries as well as being sources of advice for technical questions or changes to the ePortfolio.
Although unusual we know that this can happen for a number of different areas such as clinic attendance, core procedures or assessments. In the first instance we'd hope your clinical or educational supervisor can address things but if they're unable to you have to let more senior staff know. Exception reporting was introduced with the 2016 contract for exactly this purpose: as well as ensuring your hours are correct it's there to ensure you receive the educational experience you need. If you're finding experiences are cancelled last minute or simply can't be arranged you need to report it. This allows both areas of concern to be highlighted and issues addressed. In addition to exception reporting we'd recommend talking to your local college tutor or training programme director about your concerns.
Remember, some issues may take some time to address so the earlier you do this the more chance people are going to be able to address things in an adequate time for you.
The region has both a counselling service, Take Time and a highly developed coaching scheme that many trainees have found useful. Your school or supervisors don't necessarily need to know if you're accessing either of these and further information can be found via HEE's trainee support page.
