Flexible training
You may feel pressurised by your Deanery, colleagues or finances to return full time after starting your family but think carefully about the pressure of juggling full time work with tiny tots before making your decision. Part time conjurs thoughts of an easy life but working 70 or 80% of full time can mean the difference between holding onto your sanity or helplessly watching it runaway down the street. Think carefully about what you want to achieve at work and at home and find the right balance. Working 50% will double your training years but 80-90% may only prolong it for a year or two.
Every Deanery has an obligation to consider you for a Less Than Full Time Training scheme. However, they are not obliged to grant your request. Rotas need to be filled and the increasing numbers of females in the profession mean that LTFT training is increasingly popular. Some Specialties such as Paediatrics are particularly stretched and some deaneries have decided that all their trainees must work a minimum of 80% of full time. Others are having problems guaranteeing a regular day off which makes childcare difficult.
LTFT is attractive but many people opt to stay full time and speed through the years of night shift and long days to become a Consultant or GP Partner by the time they’re needed for homework duties.
You must request LTFT training with 8 weeks notice and, if the Deanery agrees, they must then seek approval from the Clinical Lead in your place of work to ensure service provision will be adequate.
Once your LTFT training place has been approved, you must notify the LTFT Advisor at your Royal College so that they can check that the proposed programme allows you to achieve the learning outcomes outlined on your curriculum and that the full-time trainees in the Trust are not disadvantaged.
Most departments, in my experience, are happy to give you a regular day off. Although the particular day may need to be negotiated depending on how the rota rolls. I was particularly worried about how I would be perceived returning 80% and asking for a particular day off to fit with childcare. Remember that a huge part of the joy of work is your relationship with colleagues and there are ways you can minimise the amount of work which is loaded onto others.
It does pay to not be too demanding and as flexible as possible.
Once LTFT is agreed, ensure you maximise your pay by sitting at the top of your band. Discuss and calculate your hours with your Boss well in advance so you can secure regular days off, maximising your childcare and minimising the hole in your pocket! It might be worth getting this in writing early, depending on how fluid your department is.
Here is the very complicated way they calculate your pay as a LTFT trainee. Go through it with your Boss and, for example, if you plan to work 80% but are 1 hour per week short of a 90% banding, it might be worth working an extra day every 2 months to maximise your income!
Many deaneries are now granting LTFT training but with a yearly review date. This is to ensure that those who really need the time at home are getting it. For example someone with a Husband working offshore, or shift work, may be deemed to need to train LTFT more than a Medic who’s husband works regular office hours just down the road.
The latter may be asked to give up their ‘turn’ and return to work full time. Each situation is considered on an individual basis.
As a Consultant or GP you will need to discuss with your individual department and line manager regarding altering your contract if you wish to return less than full time.
Remember, you don’t need to decide before you return to work. If you decide to return full time but are not coping, apply and you have just as much chance of being grated LTFT training as if you had applied at the start of maternity leave.
