QA developmental visit to Psychiatry Southmead Hospital 19/1/11
Present:
Dr Basit Hussain
Dr Pradeep Agrawal
Dr Sarah Thomas
Dr John Seddon
Apologies:
Aims of visit:
Improve networking / communication / understanding between GPE and department
Build on strengths of department’s teaching of GP trainees
Recognise and aim to act on weaknesses
Provide a report to allow audit trail and achievements expected before next visit
Strengths highlighted by visit, trainee feedback and QA questionnaire
Exposure to a wide range of clinical conditions in various scenarios
Consultants are enthusiastic, available, approachable, motivated, experienced trainers who
provide excellent supervision, support and teaching
Organised teaching week with one to one teaching and group teaching
Opportunity and encouragement for GPST to participate and contribute to teaching
meetings and Journal club – encouraged to critically analyse their papers and to select their
own topics which are most relevant to general practice. The training programme is sensitive
and responsive to the learning needs of GPST
Well organised department with access to clinical experiences and teaching
Individual learning plan developed with trainee and clinical Supervisor early on in training
Good induction programme of 2 weeks shadowing senior members of the clinical team
Good handover procedure for GPST to transfer their patients to the next incoming trainee
when they leave the post
Good collaborative team working atmosphere within departments in the department.
Psychiatry specialty trainees and GP specialist trainees treated the same and equally valued
by the department and consultants
Large amounts of face to face contact time with consultant
Opportunity to do visits in the community and see acutely unwell patients in their homes
Opportunity to experience old age psychiatry
Opportunity to work in drug and alcohol units
Attend MDT meetings and do case presentations
Consistently evaluated by GPST very highly from formal written and informal anecdotal
feedback
Weaknesses highlighted by visit, trainee feedback and QA questionnaire
Could encourage GPSTs to experience drugs / alcohol and eating disorders in other local
departments. Some trainees make use of this opportunity while others do not
Questions raised by visit:
Pre course reading programme / revision happens in the department. This is a good idea
which could be done before they started the post
School of GP could let the department know which trainees are coming for the year so the
individuals can be contacted to arrange leave / courses etc
Agreed action points:
 School of GP will let the department know who is coming for the year so trainees can
be contacted to arrange leave / rotas etc
 Department will give school of general practice some resources for pre course work
so trainees are familiar with how to do MSE before commencing the post
 This idea of pre course work or resources is a good idea that we had not thought
about nor heard of from other departments in our visits. It would be simple to
implement. This could be discussed with other departments in QA visits
 School of GP could feedback to Deanery the idea of a trust induction “passport” held
by trainees (developed by Dr Hussain DME) as there are up to three conflicting
inductions for GPST doing psychiatry placements. In this case it is NBT, AWP and GP
in August. This would reduce repetition of inductions at a critical time when trainees
are starting a new post
Agreed inaction:
4 month posts are not as good as 6 month posts as learning is not consolidated towards the
end of the post.
Summary
Supportive department integrating GPSTs into their effective multidisciplinary team
Close supervision and support with targeted GP focussed training
Exposure to wide range of clinical problems
Consultants are enthusiastic, available, approachable, motivated, experienced trainers who
provide excellent supervision, support and teaching
Organised and innovative team
Well done keep up the good work
Grading
Green, next visit recommendation: 3 years