Support for Practitioner
Health
Support Contacts
Les Ashton
Handling concerns about the health of
practitioners on the Performers List
Health Maintenance
We understand that medicine is a
challenging and stressful profession. Many
doctors make care for their patients a priority
leading to an increased susceptibility to
health problems.
Managing any personal health problem is
key to supporting recovery. This will allow
you to maintain that good level of care for
your patients.
Revalidation Lead
0116 295 0927
Les.Ashton@lcchs.nhs.uk
Cherie Robinson
Revalidation Manager
0116 295 0912
Cherie.Robinson@nhs.net
Leslie Borrill
Associate Appraiser
Leslie Borrill (ls.borrill@nhs.net)
There are some key principles that will help
in supporting you if you have a health
concern:
 Note early warning signs of illness and take
them seriously
 Seek help early if you are unwell.
Remember patient care can suffer as a
consequence of a practitioner’s
deteriorating health!
 Do not self-diagnose or manage your own
health
 If you are drinking too much or self
medicating, get help before this gets out
of control
 Treat yourself as you would expect to treat
a patient with the same condition. This
means register with a GP outside of your
own practice and trust that GP to give you
confidential help
Appraisal and Revalidation Team
Fosse House
6 Smith Way, Grove Park
Enderby, Leicestershire
LE19 1SX
Contents correct at time of print
January 2013
Support for Practitioner
Health
www.llrappraisal.co.uk
Supporting practitioners’ health
whilst assuring patient safety
Why should I declare a health
concern?
The Health statement is an integral part of the
Revalidation process. The reason for this is that early
support will reduce the impact on the practitioner,
their patients and colleagues.
When should I declare a health
problem?
If you are able to manage a health problem and
maintain a good level of care for your patients, there
is no need to declare a health problem. If in doubt,
your appraisal allows you to share such information
with your appraiser who can, in confidence, provide
signposts to any support.
What types of health concern should
be declared?
Declaration is limited to health concerns which might
limit service delivery (through physical disability or
periods of time off sick), acute conditions requiring a
period of greater than 28 days off work in a year, and
chronic conditions even where appropriate
supervision is in place.
How will declaring my health problem
affect my revalidation?
Professional standards require you to declare health
concerns that may have an impact on practice. You
will see that the PCT has developed a Level of
Concern document. This allows a consistent route to
management. The only levels of concern which might
affect your revalidation are those for which there is no
appropriate supervision and those that have not been
declared. The key message is: declare and seek
appropriate support.
Those involved in supporting
practitioner health believe in proactive
health management. The principles
which sustain this are:
 Early support for doctors allows
protection of patients and public safety
 A confidential, transparent and
consistent approach to support
 Specialist advice to maintain the
practitioner in the workplace
What will happen when I declare a
health problem?
Your health requires support and managing it
on your own is not in your best interest!
We recognise that you may be concerned that
‘disclosure’ will impact on your career.
Guidance on the actions which follow
‘disclosure’ can be accessed from
www.llrappraisal.co.uk/ or from one of the listed
contacts. They will also be able to reassure you
of the support available to you.
In general, early disclosure will reduce the
potential for harm to patients and will increase
the support that can be offered to you.
‘Ploughing-on’ increases the chance of risk to
patients and referral to the GMC. We want to
prevent that happening!
You are encouraged to seek support from
one or more of the following contacts:
 a local professional committee (eg LMC,
LDC) (Leicester) 0116 217 1405
(LMC) (Lincoln) 01522 576659
 Amica (staff counselling and psychological
support services) 0116 254 4388
 Occupational Health Services 0116 258 7683
 The General Medical Council 0161 923 6602
or gmc@gmc-uk.org (for copies of their
leaflet on ‘your health matters’
http://www.gmcuk.org/Your_health_matters_2011.pdf_4
7160415.pdf
 British Doctors and Dentists Group 07792
819966 or www.bddg.org
 BMA Counselling and Doctor Adviser
Service; 08459 200 169
www.bma.org.uk/doctorsfordoctors
 www.sick-doctors-trust.co.uk
 Doctors’ Support Line; www.dsn.org.uk
0844 395 3010
The practitioner health support contacts will
provide you with further detail as required. You
can also access additional sources of support
at www.llrappraisal.co.uk. You may self refer
to Occupational Health or request support in
this process from the contacts.