Out of Hours

OOH regulations and COGPED documents

These are the official guidelines relating to OOH and cover all the aspects of OOH

The comprehensive document from COGPED, issued in 2007, providing guidance on the way in which General Practice Specialty Registrars (GP StRs) gain experience in out of hours (OOH) care. Click here to download

Appendix 1: The governance arrangements relating to the training of General Practice Specialty Registrars (GP StRs) in Out of Hours (OOH) care. The guidance covers the following issues:

• Clinical standards

• Educational standards

• Clinical and clinical supervision

• Ensuring appropriate clinical experience

• Indemnity and liability.

Click here to download

Appendix 2: This form will be used as the basis of an annual review meeting between a Deanery representative, usually the local Associate Director, and the out-of-hours care provider.Click here to download

Appendix 3: The record of Out of Hours Session feedback form (this is the same as mentioned in the body of the main text opposite).Click here to download

Appendix 4: The patients journey through OOH. Click here to download

Appendix 6: Honorary contract between GP Specialty trainee (GPStR) and their Primary Care Out Of H hours Service Clinical Supervisors on behalf of the Out of Hours Service Providers ( Primary Care Clinical Supervisor). Click here to download

StR's should demonstrate competency in the provision of OOH care. The six generic competencies, embedded within the RCGP Curriculum Statement on ‘Care of acutely ill people’, are defined as the:

  1. Ability to manage common medical, surgical and psychiatric emergencies in the out-of-hours setting.

  2. Understanding of the organisational aspects of NHS out of hours care.

  3. Ability to make appropriate referrals to hospitals and other professionals in the out-of-hours setting.

  4. Demonstration of communication skills required for out-of-hours care.

  5. Individual personal time and stress management.

  6. Maintenance of personal security and awareness and management of the security risks to others

GP StR's (whether in an ITP/GP post or solely in General Practice) are required to complete a minimum of 72 hours per 12 months pro rata in General Practice OOH.  Sessions should be of 3 hours or 6 hours if overnight. This total is a minimum. GP StR's in ITP posts will be expected to do OOH / On Call  proportionate to their relative sessions in their specialty (where applicable) and General Practice.

GP StR’s are asked to record each of their OOH sessions in their e-portfolio. The portfolio necessitates that each entry must be tagged before filing against, at least, one curriculum statement heading. Normally, in the case of an OOH session, this would be curriculum statement 7: Care of Acutely Ill People. The ‘OOH session’ learning log entry in the e-portfolio will prompt the GP StR with a number of set entry fields.

Clinical supervisors in OOH will complete a record of Out of Hours Session feedback form which the trainee must share with the trainer/educational supervisor as evidence of attendance.

All OOH sessions entered into the e-portfolio must be ‘shared’ with the educational supervisor. In particular circumstances, the supervisor may choose to ‘validate’ some of these as contributing to workplace-based assessment. In this case, the entry will also be tagged against one of the 12 professional competency areas.

At the end of the training programme, the educational supervisor will search for all OOH sessions in the ‘shared entries’ in the e-portfolio (there exists a filter facility for this) ensuring that the requisite number have been completed. A declaration by the educational supervisor is then completed which will appear in the ‘progress to CCT’ section of the e-portfolio.

Failure to complete the requisite number of sessions will lead to a face-to-face deanery ARCP panel review.

How to organise a NEMS OOH session

  1. Before starting at NEMS, you are required to show evidence that your Trainer has assessed you are ready to undertake out of hours work which should be updated as you gain experience to enable your clinical supervisor to assess your level of experience. This evidence of certification is called the Out of Hours Certificate

  2. Before you can book any training sessions, you need to be fully conversant with NEMS requirements for GPR affiliation and training. Full application details including the forms they require for registration can be found on the  "working at NEMS" document.  If you have any questions or concerns please e-mail Peter.mckeown@nems.nhs.uk. In addition, there is a clinical governance document you should read relating to your conduct at NEMS and the back ground to CRB checks at NEMS.Click here to download this document

  3. At each NEMS session, you should keep a separate Record of Out of Hours Session feedback form. You will require a separate sheet for each session you work. You can print more of these sheets here.

  4. Record in your e-Portfolio, details of the OOH session, under the curriculum statement 7: Care of Acutely Ill People. The ‘OOH session’ learning log entry in the e-portfolio will prompt the GP StR with a number of set entry fields.

  5. You can book your NEMS sessions online provided NEMS have given you a password and user name, by clicking the NEMS online booking rota

In Summary, you need

How to find NEMS: For a map showing clearer directions, click here. NEMS is located at the junction of the Derby road and Triumph road near the Queens Medical Centre.