We are pleased to announce a major change in the spreadsheets that are used by the Training Programme Directors in the School. These changes will make it easier for the TPDs to manage the needs of individual trainees, especially those of you that are working flexibly.
If you are logged in to the website you should be able to see your individual rotations from the rotations page. If you cannot find yourself, or if no rotations are showing for you, then please let me know asap using the Contact me link on my website profile. Could you also let me know if any unexpected changes to your rotation, or your completion date, have appeared.
Constraints in the old version made it difficult to manage part-time and flexible trainees. The new design makes it easy to unpick the slightly clumsy pairing system that was previously in use. Those of you that train flexibly for just a section of your rotation may see this displayed as two separate but consecutive pathways.
Our School prides itself that we do not offer fixed training pathways, based on a slightly spurious ranking system, and instead we offer individually-tailored rotations that reflect individual needs and requirements. As we move into the new curriculum, with 2+5 changing to 3+4, we are likely to see a need for greater flexibility at Core/ACCS level because of the inevitable lifestyle and personal issues that arise over a longer time period. This new spreadsheet should make it easier to incorporate these changes.
The spreadsheet we use was originally designed in 2003, using Excel 2003 and VBA. It has lasted far longer than I anticipated and has been well overdue for a rewrite. For those of you that are interested then this video describes the software and how it is used.
Richard Marks
Royal Free Hospital