Code of Practice

Provision of information for postgraduate medical training.

NHS Employers, Health Education England and BMA have jointly agreed and written a Code of Practice, which explains what information you should expect to receive from employers at each stage of the employment process. It also explains your responsibilities to provide accurate, timely information.

The Code of practice: provision of information for postgraduate medical training (first published in 2011), aims to set minimum standards for Health Education England (HEE), employers and doctors, around the provision of information during the recruitment process. The code of practice has been jointly updated by HEE, NHS Employers and the British Medical Association (BMA), as part of the work led by HEE to improve the experience of doctors and dentists in training.

Key points in the 2016 version includes:

• HEE have committed to providing information to employers (and to doctors via the Oriel system) at least 12 weeks before a doctor is due to start in post.
• The employer can then ensure that relevant information is sent to the doctor eight weeks before starting in post. For doctors new to your trust, this information would usually be contained in your conditional offer of employment.
• Full details on the information to be provided are included in the Code of Practice document. The template/generic rota must be given at eight weeks.
• On receiving this information, the doctor should make any requests for known annual leave so that these can be facilitated when creating the duty roster (ie what the doctor will actually be working). The duty roster should be provided at least six weeks in advance of the doctor starting in post.
• Individual doctors have a responsibility to respond promptly to requests from employers in order to aid the smooth running of the process. Doctors should respond at least within five working days.
• This should help to facilitate the removal of fixed leave in rotas.

You can access the full code of practice document here

http://www.nhsemployers.org/your-workforce/recruit/national-medical-recruitment/code-of-practice-provision-of-information-for-postgraduate-medical-training