All agreed that this was a useful exercise, particularly in developing rapport with the guest. It
was decided to continue with this format as planned, the next Simms meeting being with Bill
Cunningham on Wednesday 16 April. The subject on this occasion will be "hospital based
medicine for junior doctors". The venue was considered appropriate, being both private and
central for all group members.
Tim subsequently followed up the meeting with a copy of his document "Producing a strategy:
discussion notes". This was viewed at the meeting, but little was found to add to it, as the
future of general practice is so uncertain at present.
Physiotherapy course for GP registrars
Graham Feltham is apparently no longer working with the physiotherapy department at Alnwick.
Mike Guy will make enquiries to see if any other physio in the department would be willing to
take it on. Perhaps Stuart Barton at Berwick would be interested if the Alnwick department
were no longer interested.
Embleton Hall 8-9 May 1997
The final arrangements are as follows:
Resource Dr Peter Havelock
Course begins 2pm Thursday 8 May 1997 and ends 5pm Friday 9 May 1997
Cost £75 (claim under section 63)
Mike Guy offered the North Northumberland Education Fund to pay for extra non-recurring
expenses, and this was gratefully received. The course will cover trainer/trainer and
trainer/trainee relationships, mentoring, developing the group as a learning organisation and
evidence based medicine. A core reading list will be presented, and perhaps drug company
sponsorship could be sought to pay for books not already owned by group members.
Undergraduate GP project
Quite a lot of interest had been expressed around the region about this, but the biggest problem
seemed to be accommodation of the undergraduate student. Brad will correspond further with
John Spencer.
House officer GP awareness-raising project
Mike Guy is meeting the Wansbeck house officers on 10 March 1997, and following this will be
phoning round the group members to arrange a half-day out at one of our practices for each
house officer to see general practice "at the coalface".
It was agreed that this was a very useful afternoon, although perhaps could have been a little
more structured. It would be useful to follow this up with another session to address specific
topics in a more task-orientated way eg: how to use www search engines, medline, sending fax
by email.
We should be developing the capability within our practices to allow the trainee to have the
skills to extract information from the internet quickly and efficiently. Gordon reported that he is
now connected, and Chris S said their practice would be shortly. Chris M reported satisfaction
with Demon as an ISP, and Gordon found that AOL was oversubscribed.
If you are unsure how to take the next step, please contact Brad Cheek for assistance. If you are
already connected please email me at brad@wellclosesquare.co.uk with your email address.
Summative assessment: making sense of the workbook
Brad presented a sheet detailing a possible way of using our formative assessment tools to help
complete the summative assessment workbook. Most areas of the summative assessment
schedule are covered by our assessment tools, and using a grid to include "date" and
"comments" for each topic would allow us to complete the summative assessment workbook
quickly and easily. This will be further discussed at the next meeting, as other
assessments could possibly be added.
Consultation skills course for GP registrars
Gordon expressed an interest in developing a core course for trainees as a residential course
over 2-3 days. This was felt to be an excellent idea: if we could develop this using our own
trainees, this could then be used as a resource by the scheme. Brad will write to George Taylor
to see if funding is possible.
Syntex/Glaxo awards
Chris S presented his trainee's project for submission. Are there any more? Group members
were uncertain when/if the next awards would take place.
Reaccreditation
Gordon and Chris S have recently undertaken the reaccreditation interview with George Taylor.
Trainee problems
Few trainers have trainees to have problems!
Report from course organisers
No course organiser present. Gordon expressed an interest in course organising in the future.
Other correspondence received
The trainer plenary and the moving of the NVTS office were noted. Distress was shown that the
NVTS was losing its email facility for some months while we were moving in the other direction!
Next meeting
18 March 1997 at Belford Surgery, commencing 8pm.
Brad Cheek 1997
