News from our Safe Working Hours Guardian
Dr Pardeep Gill is a Consultant Anaesthetist and Guardian of Safe Working Hours at Ashford and St Peter's Hospitals.
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GoSW Welcome to New Trainees at ASPH
I would like to extend a warm welcome to the new trainees joining our Trust this August. My name is Dr Pardeep Gill. I am a Critical Care Physician and also your Guardian of Safe Working.
Many of you will be familiar with this post from your work in previous Trusts.
Patient safety is central to my role as the Guardian. By ensuring trainee doctors work safe hours we aim to ensure that we are providing safe care to our patients. Fatigued doctors will not provide the best care.
There is another emerging theme which is becoming more apparent. In previous years the Guardian's role would have been occupied mainly by issues around working hours.
The trainee doctors working environment is just as important. Rota gaps, covering for absent colleagues and insufficient senior support impact on patient care. They will also be detrimental to your own well being. As Trainees you should feel empowered to report this.
There are a number of mechanisms available to you to ensure your safe working. I would like to discuss three in particular;
Exception Reports (ER)
Trainees are encouraged to log an ER when there has been a deviation from your agreed work schedule. This can be in terms of:
- Hours worked and rest periods
- Work patterns
- Educational opportunities
- Clinical environment and support available
To date well over 90% of ERs come from Foundation Doctors and most within medical specialities. It is rare to see ERs from training grades and rarer still to see ERs from general surgical specialities. I would suspect that there are issues to raise in these areas so it is up to you to use the ER system to highlight concerns.
Forum of Trainee Safe Working
This group meets once a month, generally at lunchtime on the last Friday of the month.
It is chaired by myself and attended by the Director of Medical Education, LNC Chair, senior HR reps, Rota Co-ordinators and most importantly yourselves. This is your opportunity to engage and highlight concerns and issues you are experiencing. This forum does not replace ERs but rather compliments them. I prefer to have ERs as evidence of concerns and issues. The forum provides an opportunity for discussion and resolution.
Rest Facility
It is a contractual requirement for all Trusts to provide a rest facility for trainees. We are fortunate here at ASPH in that we have on site staff accommodation. The Trust is offering on a trial basis staff accommodation on site at the Optivo facility. This can be booked during working hours via the medical workforce office or via the CSNP out of hours.
Remember this is a 3 month trial, so if you don't use it you will lose it.
Do not forget that your Educational and Clinical Supervisors are an important source of support and advice, so please use them. The ER system, Forum of Trainee Safe Working and the Rest Facilities are there to help you.
I hope you enjoy your time with us at ASPH.
Warm regards
Pardeep Gill
asp-tr.guardianofsafeworking@nhs.net
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