1. Job planning for
Specialty Doctors
Jessica Lahive
Industrial Relations Officer
BMA Midlands Centre

2. Job planning – the key to a
successful new contract
 Do what you get paid for – get paid for
what you do
 Provides evidence for appraisal and
revalidation
 Aids compliance with working time
regulations
 Rewards additional activity

3. What is a job plan?
 Agreement between doctor and employer
 Reviewed annually
 Sets out working arrangements
- timetable of activities
- responsibilities
- personal objectives
- supporting resources for coming year

4. What should it seek to do?
 a job plan should be a prospective agreement that sets
out a doctor’s duties, responsibilities and objectives for
the coming year
 job plans should set out agreed personal objectives and
their relationship with the employing organisation’s wider
service objectives
 Key role in service development and developing more
flexible organisation
 Opportunity to consider alternative working practices
which deliver high quality services

5. Who does the job planning?
 Should be between doctor and clinical
manager – usually clinical director
 Possible to do team job planning to
address generic issues – perhaps less
easy for SAS doctors than for Consultants
 Some issues may be agreed collectively –
e.g. via the Local Negotiating Committee

6. Process
 Keep a diary, minimum 6 weeks
 Draft a job plan as an average week
 Share draft prior to meeting
 Job Planning meeting – discuss outline
job plan, timetable, objectives
 If agreed – sign off job plan
 If not agreed review, meet again or seek
mediation – of which more later

7. Job plan – what’s in it
 Timetable of activities
 Number of PAs of each type
 On-call arrangements
 Wider NHS responsibilities
 Arrangements for extra PAs
 Private and fee paying work information
 Agreed objectives
 Supporting resources

8. Preparation for meeting
collect, reflect and share
 What has affected the job  DATA
plan?
 SPA Activities
 Progress against the agreed  Internal & external
objectives? commitments
 Any changes to duties and  Next year’s objectives?
responsibilities needed?  Support needed from the
 PP commitments organisation?

9. DCC work
Any work related to diagnosis and treatment and
prevention of illness
 Ward rounds
 OPD clinics
 Theatre lists
 Ward duties, reviewing results, patient
management plans, etc.
 Administration relating to patient care
 Telephone calls relating to patient care
 Travel time to peripheral clinics or sites

10. Examples of SPA work
Work underpinning DCC
 continuing professional development
 local clinical governance activities
 training
 formal teaching
 appraisal
 job planning
 audit
 research

11. Other Duties
There is more limited scope for these duties for most Specialty Doctors
than is the case for Consultants. Examples include:
 Additional NHS  External Duties
responsibilities
 Royal College officer
 DH Working Parties  BMA national committee

12. Basic timetable
 Divided into direct clinical care, supporting
professional activities, additional NHS
responsibilities, external duties
 Patient administration: counts as direct care
 Travelling time
 Lunch breaks
 Timing flexibility?
 Location flexibility? – especially of SPA time

13. Additional PAs
 Basic of 10 (for full timer)
 Agreement should be written into the job
plan
 If agreeing more than 10 specify in job
plan which are basic contract and which
additional – then it is clear what goes if the
extra PAs end

14. Objectives
 Personal objectives: quality, activity,
outcomes, standards, service objectives,
resource management, service
development or team working
 Appropriate, identified and agreed
 Careful of factors outside your control
 Suggest some of your own

15. Examples of objectives
 Hard objectives  SPA outcomes
 4 hour wait, 17 week OPD  Complete an audit project
 Choose & Book
 Workload Management  Team objectives
 Clinical Records ⇒ CNST  Specify individual doctor’s
 Absence management role
 Plans for service
 Recording of leave etc development
 Soft objectives  Performance standards
 Greater involvement of  Successful cancer peer
patients review
 Consider benchmarking
 Improve communication  Personal development
skills objectives
 Acquire a new skill

16. Supporting resources
 What do you need to help you do the job?
 Secretarial support, medical and other
clinical support, office space, IT etc
 Impact on objectives

17. Annual review
 Contractual obligation
 Needs to consider:
 Factors affecting achievement of objectives
 Adequacy of resources
 Potential changes to duties or responsibilities
 Ways to improve workload management
 Planning of careers
 Interim if changes occur during the year

18. If you can’t agree…
 Mediation process – normally with the
Medical Director
 Followed by formal appeal process–
three member panel
 Trust non-executive director Chair
 Doctor’s own nominee
 Trust executive director

19. New post : pre-appointment
 Job description, job plan outline and detail
about the employer
 Offer should be for a 10 PA contract
 Job plan should be clear about the work to
be done in the PAs
 Can agree to work in excess of 10 PAs
 May look to amend job plan before
appointment

20. New post – on appointment
 Early meeting with the clinical manager
 Make sure everything is there
 Needs to be realistic – discuss with
colleagues, college, BMA
 On-call particularly difficult
 Keep a work diary
 If disparity, seek interim review

21. Conclusion
 Job planning is crucial
 Job plan must be agreed, realistic and
reflect all the work that you will do in the
coming year
 Take time to get it right – or live to regret it
 Seek support and guidance – Royal
Colleges, BMA website, DH website,
colleagues, consultants, LNC, HR, etc.