Much great learning goes on when you get together.
Sharing common problems and experiences with your peers, often in less formal settings, offers valuable support for managing your own well-being and for developing the skills and knowledge you need to provide best care for patients.
Below are some recommended ways you can connect with peers in your local area.
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Training Hub has two GP First5 Peer Support Leads covering the area. These GPs are working to build peer support networks for First5 GPs working in and around our three localities. The format of these varies by area but have included face-to-face or virtual evening meetings, WhatsApp groups and one-to-one advice or signposting. If you would like to join your local First5 group, or find out what is happening in your area then please see the contact details below.
Email: cynthia.yohanna@nhs.net
Email: nishmamanek@nhs.net
Paula Newton is the CPTH Retention Lead and provides 1:1 conversations and peer support for GPs at all stages of their careers. This can range from GPs returning to practice to those at the later stage of their career, as well as anything in-between! Having trained as a GP locally in the early 1990s, Paula worked as a GP partner for over 2 decades before becoming a locum and portfolio GP. Though her core role is clinical general practice, she enjoys the variety of her roles which include GP appraisal, medical school examining and being a board and committee member of the Cambridgeshire LMC. In addition, she provides peer support to secondary care colleagues at Addenbrookes with the ‘Doctors4Doctors’ service.
You can reach Paula by email via candptraininghub@nhs.net
CPTH’s Locum GP Lead,Dr Richard Maddison, is here to provide guidance and support to locum GPs working in Cambridgeshire & Peterborough. Email Richard with any questions via candptraininghub@nhs.net
If you are in a position to do so we would highly recommend setting up your own peer small group at the end of training. These typically meet monthly, have an ideal size of between six and ten, and where possible involve GPs from different practices with different job roles (locum, salaried, partner) and points of view. The great advantage of setting one up yourself is you can organise it to suit your groups particular learning and support needs. Each meeting can be used as evidence of CPD and count towards the 50 hours per year that you will need to log after qualification.
The training hub offers courses on facilitation and peer coaching and our early career Peer Support Leads are available to provide ongoing external support to your group. The Peer Support Leads would like to be aware of any groups running in the area, so it would be helpful if each group lead could get in touch, regardless of whether your group is open or closed to new members.
If you are new to the area and would value becoming part of a small group, please contact the relevant Peer Support Lead.
WhatsApp group for Cambridgeshire Locum GPs. Please email sarah.ray1@nhs.net for more details and the WhatsApp link.
