You may wonder what goes into training new GPs. General Practice, as the name suggests, requires training in a broad range of medical and surgical disciplines. This is done in both hospitals and in GP surgeries. Once fully qualified as a doctor after 7 years, a GP trainee embarks on a further training, for at least 3 more years.
He or she will work with many of the specialist teams you may meet in the hospital either in casualty, on the wards or in the outpatients clinic. Experience is gained seeing and treating patients and learning from specialist hospital colleagues, lessons that will equip the trainee when he or she goes into general practice.
Once out of hospital, a trainee moves into a surgery for the final stage of the training. Only certain practices are eligible to train new GPs because they have to be of a very high standard and pass rigorous inspections. A trainee GP Registrar works as a fully functioning GP within the practice although under the close supervision of the partners, and specifically his GP Trainer. At this surgery the trainers are Dr Ian Goodman and Dr Sabby Kant. Dr Kiruthika Selvam is currently training to be a trainer.
As you will probably know, the Mountwood Surgery is a training practice and will probably have a GP Registrar working here most of the time. You can make appointments to see our registrars as you would your usual doctor. If there is something they are not sure about, they will know when and who to ask to get help. By seeing the GP Registrar, you are playing a vital role in their learning. You may also find that waiting times for appointments are shorter.
Towards the end of their training, a GP Registrar has to pass examinations. These involve video taping some consultations with patients in order that the doctor can be assessed in various skills. The videos are confidential as you would expect and are destroyed after the assessment. No examinations will be filmed. If you are kind enough to agree to your consultation being taped, the reception staff will ask you to sign a consent form before and after the appointment to confirm that you are happy for the content to be used. Other than that, just ignore the camera and you should find that nothing is different from normal. You can say no to the video; we will understand, but we would be grateful to you for your consent to this being done.
From time to time we also have medical students who "shadow" the GPs and nurses and may observe consultations with your consent.
If you have any questions regarding the training of General Practitioners or medical students at the surgery, please ask at reception.