Study Leave

Details

Study Leave, whilst funded by the Deanery is allocated to individual Local Education Providers (LEP - trusts) rather than to the School itself. Therefore the School has no direct control over the Study Leave of its trainees.

Each LEP has its own rules, regulations and rationale in allocating Study Leave to trainees. All require the support of an Educational Supervisor (often the College Tutor) and need approval from the Department of Medical Education, of the LEP you are working in.

The board of the MDSA in June 2007 agreed the concept of an approved list of core courses for junior anaesthetic trainees within the region. As the majority of LEPs now have a per capita limit per trainee for the study leave budget, this was a way of trying to ensure that all early years trainees in anaesthesia had access to at least the same minimum number of courses per training year.

The rationale of the list of “approved core courses” for junior anaesthetic trainees (CT1/2 & ST3/4) was based on the following principles:

• Priority for junior trainees (CT1/2 & ST3/4) is to pass the Primary & Final FRCA exams & achieve the necessary competencies to progress into higher specialist training (namely to go into ST5)
• The training priorities for those in the later years of training, will depend on the area of proposed specialisation, thus should be more self-directed by the trainee
• Equity & parity is assured for all anaesthetic trainees if an “approved list of study leave courses” is produced
• Courses should provide value for money
• There are finite resources available to fund study leave, thus it would seem reasonable to target the resources at the educational priorities
• Good quality local courses provide much better value for money, as it avoids excessive travelling & hotel costs

The Head of School writes to all the departments of medical education in all the LEPs, where “early years” trainees are allocated annually. The current list of courses, together with the feedback on those courses from your colleagues who attended them last year are provided. Whilst most have agreed to support this list of courses, you must comply with the appropriate application process used in the trust where you are working and there is no guarantee of access to all courses.

Traditionally, most trainees have had access to 5 days personal study leave per annum. Given the current time constraints posed by the EWTD, the educational value of such time needs to be considered carefully. Each Educational Supervisor/ College Tutor and each department will need to consider each application request on its individual merits; again there is no guarantee such a leave request would be granted.

A list of the approved core courses and also the dates of the courses are found in the main Deanery's Courses & Events section.

For those trainees in later years of training or those in remedial training who may have already attended the relevant Deanery courses, the “approved course list” to target study leave priorities may not be appropriate.

Those trainees should discuss their educational and training needs with their Educational Supervisor and/or College Tutor, who can provide guidance and advice on the appropriate use of Study Leave

Further Information

Further information about Study Leave can be found in the Study Leave section.