Returning to GP Training after Parental Leave

For more information regarding maternity leave, please email the Helpdesk.

Principles

  • The contents of this document do not overrule or replace any current statutory legal requirements
  • Doctors on a GP Vocational Training Scheme are entitled to return to a relevant rotation working under the same conditions as when they left (for example if working full-time when maternity leave begins then there will be a straightforward return to full-time working, subject to the conditions below)
  • Doctors on a GP Vocational Training Scheme who wish to return under different circumstances (such as Less Than Full Time Training - LTFT) should be aware that their return will depend on fulfilling the criteria outlined on the HEE LTFT policy and the availability of a suitable rotation.
  • GP training appointments are made to rotations and doctors returning to work with no change of circumstances will normally return to their rotation but not necessarily to the post they left

Information for doctors returning to full-time work in a hospital post (ie no change of circumstances)

  • The Education Programme Co-ordinator should be given a planned return date as early as possible
  • The sooner this date is known the greater the chance of a return on the planned date.  This is because in order to return to a post outside the usual starting dates (February and August) special arrangements have to be made, usually involving the Hospital Trust employing a locum until the returning doctor can start the post
  • Similarly it may not be possible to start in a particular February or August if insufficient notice of the return date is given, because arrangements may already have been made in good faith to fill that post

Information for doctors wishing to return to training less than full-time (LTFT) 

Please refer to the HEE LTFT Policy 

  • You should discuss the training placement requirements with your local Training Programme Director before you finalise your plans.
  • A Less Than Full Time Application form or (if you are already LTFT and you wish to change your % of full time) a Change of LTFT application form should be completed and sent to the Education Programme Coordinator at least 16 weeks before returning to training.