INTER DEANERY TRANSFERS
ELIGIBILITY
There are limitations to who gets to move. In my experience, it is the limitations rather than the process that has led to the most discussion. While I personally found the process much more frustrating.
The current indications are:
- A personal physical disability/ mental health condition or
- primary carer responsibilities or
- parental responsibilities or
- a committed relationship (or the breakdown of a committed relationship)
So this stops any movement of trainees that get a number in a deanery they don’t want and then try to change to one they perceive to have better training or be more competitive. This also stops the switching of two trainees that accept numbers in regions they do not wish be in and then try to exchange with each other. There are many opinions on whether this is right or wrong but what it certainly does achieve is keeping the National Selection process both fair and simple.
So, DO NOT accept a number in a region that you do not wish to be in and then try and move. You need a significant CHANGE to circumstances. This could, however, include a pre-existing relationship becoming more significant (such as through marriage or children). It is reasonable to assume that you might not have known that they were the “one” before you took the job.
THE APPLICATION
This is needlessly complex. The guide alone is 18 pages long and requires at least 2 summaries. I have put a link to it at the end.
Windows: (Feb and August for 1 month only)
You cannot just apply at any time. I decided that I wished to transfer in March. By the time I had found out about the process, I realised that I had missed a window by a week. There are only two windows a year FEBRUARY (window 1) and AUGUST (window 2).
The Paperwork:
You have to get a catalogue of evidence together including proof of need to move and a lot of signatures from people you don’t know. It is quite the treasure hunt so prep for it because they only release the documents 1 week before the window.
SUPPORTING DOCUMENT
This is a form to prove your need and this changes dependent on the classification of the reason to move. The document you will need (Either of Supporting Documents A1, A2, B, C or D) will depend on whether you are criterion 1A, 1B, 2, 3 or 4. I had to state on the form why my relationship was significant. (I said it was the only one I had and I’d like to keep it!)
COVER SHEET DOCUMENT and DEANERY DOCUMENT:
This caught me out. Like a true idiot, I thought the deanery document had to be signed by your dean. Turns out it quite specifically must not be signed by your TPD, Dean or head of school, who might actually have some chance of knowing you. Instead you have to find a nominated representative. For each region this will be a different person. To find this you have to hack into a dark locked off section of the HEE website where there will be a link to a spreadsheet of names hidden behind a sink somewhere. If you are lucky your region will have one name and an email address. I was not. For London there was a list of six people I had never heard of and no intel on how to contact them. This turned into a crazy nightmare that I’ll come to later.
The Deanery Document is a single sheet of paper with no more information on you or your circumstance than your name and grade which must be signed (with no accompanying info) by a randomly assigned person somewhere in your region (though you may or may not be allowed to know where). This is a document for the sake of a document. It has no purpose. It achieves nothing. But it is the hardest bit to get filled out.
The Cover Sheet is for reapplication and again, must only be completed 2 weeks before the application window.
These documents require signatures from busy people for whom you will probably be a low priority. This does make getting this hunt completed a bit tense.
ARCP EVIDENCE (or Postgraduate Dean Letter of Support):
I thought the ARCP print out was the easier thing to get hold of. After hours screaming at ISCP I gave up and print screened my last ARCP outcome. This had clearly written on it both my name, the date and the outcome. This is not good enough. I then hit them with my entire evidence summary but no avail. They need the actually ARCP certificate. I didn’t know such a thing existed. Turns out we aren’t allowed to print it ourselves, it has to come from ISCP or the deanery only.
The Rules:
You would be forgiven for thinking that the eligibility criteria were the rules and everything else was just getting the forms in. You’d be forgiven by anyone. Anyone except HEE. You would be wrong and their scope for forgiveness is none.
I finally electronically rammed my application through the portal, after head butting the trust computer in anger, in the first week of the application window. Two days later I got an email informing me that the ARCP evidence was not good enough and the deanery document was signed by the wrong person (I had erroneously assumed that was pertinent to my TPD, as mentioned it is not).
The next day I was teaching on a course but had an hour free in the afternoon when I wasn’t needed. I managed to follow HEE’s rabbit-hole to a portal that you send the form through and someone, anyone, signs it and sends it back. I did this. I received a message thanking me for this and saying it would take a week. I emailed the chap from HEE back and said I’d work on the ARCP evidence but the Deanery Document would not be back for a week. He politely informed me that everything had to be back in by 4pm the next day otherwise my application would be ended. I asked why when there was still 3 weeks until the application window closes. He said “Them’s the rules”. I sighed. I replied saying, “fine, I’ll reapply in a week when the document is back”. He said I couldn’t. One application per window.
I told the course organisers that I was out of action, recruited two other interested parties, and we hit the internet and phones hard trying to find out a) who needs to sign the document and b) where I get my ARCP certificate from. By sheer luck of the gods we found out that one of the names on the list was based at Russell Square headquarters. I called and got through to someone who said she was exactly the right person to talk to about transfers but for foundation years only. Just as she was about to hang up I asked if there was anyone like her but for surgery. She agreed that there definitely was and she was sitting next to her. After a slight pause I politely asked if I could be passed over. This lady saved my life. She not only got the document signed within minutes (turns out the person I was looking for had just come in to ask her a question) and told me that it is them that have to print the ARCP certificate, which she then did.
So please remember…
- Do it all in one go:
The online application does not save. You must complete it in one go. This is mind bogglingly frustrating when you go round and round uploading the same documents again and again as buffering circles fail you time and again.
- Don’t make a mistake:
If you have an error with your application you will have 48hrs to correct it otherwise your application is terminated.
- You have ONE Shot:
If your application is terminated you CANNOT reapply with errors corrected within the same application window. You must wait 6months.
MY EXPERIENCE
To be honest I found that if you have a reason to move that fits the criteria then everyone in paediatric surgery I encountered were both sympathetic and very helpful. The system after this is point is like a broken wooden bridge. It is just about intact enough to get someone to where they want to go but one wrong step and you are done.
Also you, as a paediatric surgeon, are a square peg and you have to wedge yourself into their round hole. For example the online application window has drop down menus for the regions. I wished to move to the BBC consortium so had to select Severn Deanery and West Midlands. I then lived in fear that I would get moved to a surgical job in Yeovil or Dudley. After the fiasco of the application window I then got an email pointing out that my hand written form (where I had put BBC) and my electronic form (where I couldn’t) were different and so they could only accept the electronic one. I replied with an explanation but never heard back.
In the end I just got called by Mr Woodward in Bristol, the TPD at the time, on my mobile asking if I’d like to come to Bristol and that was that.
IDTs are possible. Just not often in your first year after getting a number and without a reason that fits. This may change in time.
Oliver Burdall
National Training Representative 2018-2020
INFORMATION LINKS
For detailed timelines and overview:
https://specialtytraining.hee.nhs.uk/nationalIDT
For the full guide:
For access to the documents (including Regional IDT contacts for completing Deanery Document):
https://specialtytraining.hee.nhs.uk/Resources-Bank