Overview

Rediscover the Joy of General Practice is a collaborative project between 7 Scottish Health Boards designed to:

  • Provide holistic person-centred care.
  • Develop flexible ways of working that brings enjoyment and satisfaction to GPs.
  • Support continuous quality improvement.

The project provides the opportunity for GPs to work in different areas of Scotland, typically for 1-4 weeks at a time, without having to re-locate their home. Accommodation and travel expenses from a Scottish city is paid for, but taxable.  GPs are free to choose placements and can work in just one practice or across a range; with freedom to choose the number of weeks they work each year. The GP Hub coordinates placements supporting GPs to take the stress out of where to go and how to get there. 

We bring our GPs together through regular videoconference meetings to discuss cases, share experience, learn together, and support each other. They are also linked via WhatsApp to provide more immediate contact. Creating teams of highly motivate GPs increases the opportunities for the project to drive quality improvement, develop flexible ways of working, support practices and create joy.

The Aims

Our aim is to support joy in General Practice through:

  • Person-centred care.
  • A range of opportunities to fit professionals at different career stages and with different personal commitments.
  • Supporting the maintenance and improvement of high quality care by focusing on continuous improvement in practices by creating a network of teams.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted that people value the NHS and its philosophy, but it has put enormous pressures on the service and those that deliver it.  Some GPs are thinking of leaving the NHS.  We hope that this project, by focussing on the values that brought many of us into healthcare, the needs of our patients and by providing different working opportunities, may help people Rediscover the Joy of General Practice and continue working in the NHS.

NHS Scotland is a collaborative organisation, and this is a collaborative recruitment project across seven Health Boards.  By working together, we can offer more choice to help you find the job that is right for you.

Our Values

The values of NHS Scotland are:

  • Care and Compassion
  • Dignity and Respect
  • Openness, Honesty and Responsibility
  • Quality and Teamwork

Applicants to Rediscover the Joy are asked to demonstrate how their philosophy aligns with these values. We believe this motivates a flexible, collaborative approach to develop new ways of working

By working together to create flexible, interesting and enjoyable opportunities we can also support practices who are struggling due to recruitment difficulties, where the work can be challenging.  When a practice is struggling, we can work with them to provide a welcoming and supportive environment. Our aims are excellent patient care, a rewarding experience for professionals and increased practice resilience.

Continuous Quality Improvement

We are looking for our team members to be committed to quality.  We expect high quality in the care you provide patients and that you maintain your own continuous professional development. We hope you will want to contribute to the GP Support Team meetings and build a supportive network of peers.  You might want to develop a particular clinical interest, academia, or use your experience to improve processes or contribute to education.  We hope that by working collaboratively we can learn from each other and the practices we support; playing to our strengths to bring personal fulfilment and joy, whilst helping improve the care to the many and varied individuals and communities across Scotland.

Scotland GP Support Teams

‘Rediscover the Joy’ is a collaborative project across seven Health Boards, coordinated by the Scottish Rural Medicine Collaborative.  The first pilot was run between NHS Shetland, Western Isles, Orkney and Highland in 2019. This recruited 33 GPs from around the UK to its Rural GP Support Team.  In 2020, just as the first lock down started, another 27 GPs were recruited to a second team.

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way we all work but strengthened our resolve in the pursuit of holistic General Practice and quality improvement.  Having reviewed 2½ years of the Joy we are looking to recruit to new teams.  Our partnership now includes NHS Dumfries & Galloway, NHS Grampian and NHS Tayside. This will help us offer a wider range of new flexible ways of working whilst bringing together teams of highly motivated GPs with a shared philosophy based on our values.

We create a strong sense of team by:

  • Recruiting to a shared vision.
  • Using technology to bring individuals together to create teams with a common ethos.  
  • A WhatsApp group and regular video conference meetings to provide mutual support, shared learning and a forum for quality improvement and project development.
  • Clinical leadership appointed from within each team to ensure effective organisation, maintain excellent clinical standards and to take responsibility for resolving clinically related issues.  The clinical leads will work closely with the Project Steering Group and the clinical governance structures of participating Health Boards.

Flexibility of working patterns

  • You are free to choose your attachments, work in one practice or across several and take as many placements as suits. Appointments attract annual and study leave pro rata.
  • Individuals can travel to work for periods of time whilst continuing to live in their established homes, when not working.
  • Remote working to provide clinical care, quality improvement activity within specific practices or mentoring of staff is also available.
  • The project can be used to allow you to work across different practices until you find a substantive appointment.  This approach is encouraged.
  • Travel from a Scottish city and accommodation is funded but is subject to tax.  Indemnity cover is provided.
  • The salary is £90,001 pro-rata with study and annual leave allocations built in.

Different Types of Work

We are keen to provide individuals with opportunities to undertake the type of work that they enjoy.  For example:

  • Patient facing work, without the additional responsibilities of practice administration.
  • Regular mentoring of other members of the Primary Care Multidisciplinary Team.
  • Joining together with other GP Support Team members to provide consistent support to a practice in rotation.
  • Community Hospital work, in addition to General Practice consulting.
  • Supporting practices to develop clinical governance and quality improvement systems.

The recruitment process has been designed to help us develop an understanding of your interests, expertise, development goals, what your ideal job might look like and the working patterns that would suit you best.  We then hope to work with you to find fulfilling opportunities, whilst you provide excellent patient care and support our practices.

Supporting Practices

There are a huge variety of practices across Scotland, for example:

  • Remote and rural single-handed practices
  • Larger rural practices, some also providing Community Hospital services
  • Large city practices
  • Affluent populations
  • Areas of extreme deprivation
  • Areas with high substance misuse
  • Practices providing care for specific populations eg: homeless citizens, refugees and asylum seekers.

Some practices have found recruitment difficult in recent years creating significant pressures.  Attachments may come with challenges.  We believe joy comes not only from providing excellent patient care, but from being part of a supportive team and helping practices to develop.  Our GP Support Teams provide an exceptional level of service and have helped practices review and further develop their services towards long term sustainability.

How is this different to a GP locum agency?

Practices undertake to provide a comprehensive induction and will support GPs to gain evidence required for their appraisal.  Both practices and GPs are asked to provide constructive feedback at the end of each attachment to facilitate learning and quality improvement. Mentoring and co-mentoring is available, along with appraisal and revalidation structures for those who require it.

The Health Boards involved with Rediscover the Joy

Rediscover the Joy of General Practice is a collaboration of seven Health Boards:  NHS Dumfries and Galloway, NHS Grampian, NHS Highland, NHS Shetland, NHS Tayside, NHS Orkney and NHS Western Isles. 

Our current Highlands and Islands Team is employed by NHS Shetland.  New GPs will be recruited into teams employed by NHS Dumfries and Galloway, NHS Grampian, NHS Highland and NHS Tayside.  We will create teams of equal numbers employed by the four larger Health Boards before NHS Shetland takes on more GPs to an Islands Team.

New GPs will be employed by the larger Health Boards to spread the employment responsibilities, and the nurturing of GP Support Teams  across the project.  Practice opportunities within a particular Health Board will be advertised only to that Health Board’s Team for the initial week.  After the initial week the opportunities will then be advertised to all the teams across the project.  A list of placement opportunities is emailed out to our teams each week.  Urgent placements requiring to be filled in less than 3 weeks will be advertised immediately to all teams.  During the application process GPs are asked to rank their preferred Health Boards.

The seven participating Health Boards cover different geographical areas and provide different opportunities.

Work ranges from locations where the GPs provide an extended range of services to their remote communities to practices providing the more standard services seen in urban settings.  We provide Pre-Hospital Emergency Care training for GPs who wish to work in rural and remote areas, where these skills are required.  Our experience with our GP Support Teams is that many GPs from an urban background who were looking for a new challenge have found that the work has both stretched and reinvigorated them, providing them with a sense of deep satisfaction and enjoyment.

To learn more about each Health Board area please click below.

NHS Dumfries and Galloway
NHS Grampian
NHS Highland
NHS Orkney
NHS Shetland
NHS Tayside
NHS Western Isles

Rediscover the Joy of General Practice may appeal to:

  • Portfolio GPs.
  • Those considering retirement who would like to continue providing their skills and experience to the NHS.
  • GPs working abroad who wish to retain their license to practice in the UK.
  • Those considering a substantive post. This is an opportunity to work in different practices to find the one that suits you.
  • Established GPs who might benefit from the challenge of working in another practice, undertaking a different type of work for a few weeks each year.  This can provide a new perspective, stimulation and help maintain enthusiasm.  It could also, for example, develop into regular practice swops.

How to get involved

Please feel free to contact Sue Imrie at our GP Hub in NHS Shetland on 01595 743000 ext 3467 or via shet.hrhub@nhs.scot to discuss what you are looking for, the opportunities we can provide and the ways we can support you to make a change.

We welcome applicants from different backgrounds and embrace diversity as an important ingredient to help us develop different ideas, novel solutions and find joy in the work we do together.

To apply click here for the Job Description and online application process

We’re recruiting right now.