Fellowship in General Practice

Information for Practices

The General Practice Fellowship is an NHS England funded 2-year programme of support for newly qualified GPs and GPNs beginning careers in General Practice.

NHS-E and HEE have confirmed funding for entry onto the scheme until 2023. (The scheme is different from all previous GP fellowship schemes, some of which continue to run in parallel.)

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Training Hub is delivering the General Practice Fellowship scheme to help practices attract, support and retain tomorrow’s clinical team to meet patients’ needs.

Who is it for?

The General Practice Fellowship scheme is open to any newly qualified GP or GPN who:

• qualified within the last 12 months (rolling)
• is employed in a Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Practice in a substantive post

Application and funding is via the employing practice (there is no funding direct to fellows).

Aims

The scheme:

• Aims to encourage newly qualified GPs and Nurses to take up substantive posts in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough practices
• Assists with their transition from training to fully embedded roles
• Supports practices in recruiting and meeting the learning needs of their newly qualified GPs and Nurses
• Includes a financial contribution to practices to allow newly qualified GPs and Nurses to engage with education, mentoring and peer networking
• Aims to ensure that our trainees become our local GPs and GPNs by building an educational community and supporting workplace-based professional development beyond the end of training.

Why should my practice get involved?

The new NHS contract committed to a universal two year offering for all new GPs and Nurses of a supported start to their clinical careers, with time for learning and peer education and support programmes. The General Practice Fellowship is the first step towards this and provides a structured induction, support and educational programme for up to 24 months from starting, to help attract, recruit and retain GPs and Nurses.

Benefits to Practice

GPs:

• A Salaried GP/Partner rather than a locum.
• Commitment to 2 year employment by newly qualified GP.
• Financial grant to practice for backfill to support time to learn and in-practice mentor support for each new to practice professional (now increased to £7,200 per fellow per year.
• Involvement of newly-qualified GP with QiP and practice development.
• Support with recruitment and improved retention of committed energised newly-qualified GPs to support the practice team.
• Grow your own future GPs – in house professional development to meet your organisation’s needs.
• Access to external education programme tailored to meet newly-qualified GP needs.
• Job satisfaction for GPs in current practice team in providing mentoring/developing as mentors.
• Access to mentor development programme (TH will provide mentorship training for staff who are not already coaches, mentors or educators.

GPNs:

• New Nurses in Primary Care.
• Financial grant to practice for backfill to support time to learn and in-practice mentor support for each newly qualified Nurse.
• Mentoring for new to practice nurses and access to mentor development (TH will provide training and support for staff who are not already coaches, mentors or educators).
• Funded Fundamentals of Practice Nursing course in year 1.
• Access to education programme tailored to meet newly-qualified GPN needs.
• Support with recruitment.
• Improved retention in first 2 years of work.
• Grow your own future nursing team.

Funding

There is no funding direct to fellows. Practices will receive a financial grant contribution to help support each fellow to engage with education, mentoring and peer networking.

Current grant contributions are as follows:

GP: £7,200 per GP per year of fellowship* as a contribution towards backfill for time to learn (1 session per week pro rata) and provision of in-practice mentoring (min 1 hour per month).

Nurse: £3,800 per Nurse per year of fellowship*, including £2,800 towards backfill to release nurses for study time + £1,000 contribution to in-practice mentoring.

(*Contributions above are based on FT working, grant contributions will be pro rata for less than full time)

Payment will be quarterly in advance, subject to evidence of protected education time and mentoring. Once a signed MOU is in place, you will be provided with an Invoice Schedule detailing the quarterly payments that you will need to invoice to the Training Hub.

How to apply

Application is via the employing practice only. Please click the link below to complete a simple online application form if you are a GP practice within Cambridgeshire and Peterborough and you are interested in signing up:

• A salaried GP who qualified in the last 12 months (employed in a substantive post)
• A practice nurse who completed their training within the last 12 months

If you don’t yet have an eligible clinician but would like to apply for the scheme in principle (pending recruitment), you should still complete an application form (leaving out the Fellows details), so that we can add you to our list of participating practices and pass your details to any prospective Fellows who contact us.

On receipt, we will verify the application and notify you of the outcome. If successful, you will be sent a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which must be signed and returned to the Training Hub via email to candptraininghub@nhs.net

(Please note if we are oversubscribed we reserve the right to allocate places based on the greatest workforce need.)

ONLINE APPLICATION

Highlights for fellows:

• A structured and supported local induction programme.
• Protected learning time:
  • For GPs this is a weekly study session, 3 out of 4 sessions spent in General Practice or personal study and 1 in 4 to attend a monthly regional education programme.
  • For Nurses this is monthly protected study time (4hrs) and practice-based learning.
• Access to the regional education programme and in practice learning, with protected learning time.
• A named in-house mentor with protected mentoring time (CPTH will provide mentorship training for staff who are not already coaches, mentors or educators).
• Access to coaching.

More information for Fellows

You can find more information on the Fellowship including benefits for fellows here:

MORE INFORMATION for GPs

MORE INFORMATION for Nurses

More information for Practices

If you have questions on any aspect of the fellowship or to register your interest, please do get in touch:

• via our Contact Form
• via direct email to candptraininghub@nhs.net
• via phone on 01733 666670.