Making UHDB the best workplace it can be for our doctors
The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) has commended UHDB for making the Royal Derby Hospital a great place to train for our medical registrars and junior doctors.
UHDB has established a number of different projects across the Royal Derby Hospital over the last two years that have further enhanced both staff training and morale.
From redesigning rotas so that doctors are able to work in the same areas for longer, to pairing up registrars with core medical trainees as mentors, the Trust has introduced a number of key measures to keep frontline staff’s spirits high.
This has led to a reduction in staff sickness, improved patient care and increased morale, with 100% of registrars that took part in a recent staff survey revealing they enjoyed working at the Royal Derby Hospital, whilst 97% of junior doctors said they’d recommend the Trust as a great place to work.
Chief Registrar Dr Huda Mahmoud shared these fantastic findings at the East Midlands RCP conference on 28 February and was then subsequently presented with the RCP Turner-Warwick Lecturer Award for her commitment to helping support medical registrars.
She said: “All of our medical registrars do an incredible job, so it’s only right that we do everything in our power to support them. They are our future consultants and are the future of the NHS, so we have to make sure that we train them well and look after them. We are committed to improving the training experience of all of our doctors and making them feel valued and respected. It was a real honour to have received this award but it’s not about me, as none of this great work could’ve been done without my amazing colleagues. I truly am privileged to work with such a caring group of professionals.”
Redesigning the staff rotas has allowed the Trust to deploy doctors in the same areas for a longer period of time, which has allowed them to build stronger relationships with colleagues and their patients.
This has also been applied during night shifts, with an additional doctor of a higher tier being made available overnight to before, meaning patients can be seen sooner and there’s also less pressure on clinical staff.
The creation of Core Training 3 (CT3) posts has also allowed junior doctors to pick their specialty and be a registrar in a supported capacity, whilst the Trust also runs regular training courses for trainees.
Empowering medical registrars to be mentors has also been found to benefit junior doctors with an interest in a medical specialty, as they are able to gain support from colleagues on subjects like upcoming exams, applications or job interviews.
The projects are led by college tutors and associate college tutors from across the Trust, with support from the post-graduate team.
Dr Chris Whale, Divisional Medical Director for the Medical Division, said: “We’re extremely proud of everything we do as a Trust to support all of our registrars and junior doctors. Focusing on enhancing the training we offer and ensuring this support framework is in place for colleagues will ultimately lead to our patients receiving the best care possible. It’s fantastic to see how far our doctors develop each day, whether that be our medical registrars or junior doctors, and Dr Mahmoud has helped play a central part in that. She really embodies our Trust’s commitment to being the best it can be and so it is amazing to see this work acknowledged by the RCP.”