Clinical Fellows
This title can cover a wide range of non-training medical roles. The detail in this page relates to the FY2+ roles that NHS Lothian recruits to annually.
Clinical fellow posts are usually for 6 or 12 months and we have Clinical fellows based in many specialties across NHS Lothian and our HSCPs. Doctors applying for these posts tend to have just finished Foundation training. The posts usually have base 40 hours per week with actual hours and pay rate correlated to the banding of the rota the clinical fellow is on.
Whilst there are no specific curriculum or WPBA/SLE (Supervised Learning Event) requirements for Clinical fellows we would encourage fellows to record their clinical development over the year. If fellows know what specialty they want to pursue they can look at that curriculum and obtain WPBA in line with it. We have some generic WPBA or fellows can use TURAS Professional Portfolio, which can then be exported and uploaded onto SOAR for appraisal (note SOAR will be moving to TURAS October 2024).
Clinical Fellows have allocated development time 10% or 4hrs (or pro rata) per week.
This can be related to:
Education
Quality Improvement
Leadership
Research
A framework for self-directed learning can be found by looking at our Clinician Development Programme.
Support and information for our Clinical fellows is available through our Clinical Fellow Microsoft team
Clinical Supervision
As a Clinical fellow you should expect to be allocated a Clinical Supervisor with whom you will meet regularly. This may be a Consultant or SAS doctor. If your supervisor is a NES appraiser they will also be able to undertake your end of year appraisal, if they are not then your Clinical Director (or deputy) will allocate you an appraiser.
Appraisal
Every doctor is expected to have a yearly appraisal. When you are in training this is your ARCP. In your fellow role this will be carried out by your named appraiser. You should not get anxious about your appraisal but it is definitely worth being prepared and collecting evidence for it throughout the year. As a fellow in NHS Lothian your Responsible Officer will be our Medical Director Ms Tracey Gillies. There is more information about the role of the Responsible Officer and how you can update your GMC profile from the link below.
You will be linked with your appraiser through an application called SOAR which will link with your TURAS account. Evidence of your learning and reflections over the year should be submitted. There are 4 domains for evidence, guidance is available on the SOAR platform about the evidence you can submit (none should contain patient identifiable data).
A brief guide would be:
Knowledge, Skills & Performance
CPD record: highlight SDL (podcasts, etc), courses, departmental teaching, procedure logs, SLE/WPBAs.
Personal Development Plan
This is something you may not be familiar with completing, but is required for appraisal, so useful to discuss this at your initial supervisor meeting and document on SOAR.
Safety & Quality
Involvement in audits, QI activity. Attendance at departmental M&Ms. GCP certificate
Communication, Partnership & Teamwork
It is helpful to do an MSF/yr – this can be done through the Wasp system on SOAR. You can also upload any feedback or thank you letters from patients, Greatix. Links to NES reflections: working with colleagues, etc.
Maintaining Trust
Indemnity certificate. Complaints involvement.
