As a resident doctor in England, you have a duty to abide by the six general principles for private professional and fee-paying work that are outlined in the 2016 TCS:

• you must inform your employer of any regular commitments of private professional work
• you have a responsibility for ensuring this work does not result in any detriment to NHS patients or services
• total working hour restrictions set out in schedule 3 of the 2016 TCS apply to any private work undertaken
• you cannot be paid twice for the same period of time, this means that you cannot earn fees during salaried time (further details below)
• you must make clear your training status when undertaking private professional or fee-paying work
• you are solely responsible for the payment and management of any related costs in respect of any private and professional fee paying work, this includes the tax and insurance liabilities.

You must also ensure you carry appropriate professional indemnity as such work falls outside of the clinical negligence scheme.

Fees during salaried time

Though fee-paying work is normally undertaken outside of salaried time, employers may agree that fee-paying work can be undertaken during this time.

In this instance, if you are directly paid a fee you will have to remit the fee to your employer unless they have agreed you can keep it.

As you cannot be paid twice for the same period of time, if your employer has agreed you can keep this fee, you will need to either

• give your employer permission to reclaim your salary for this time
• agree to make up the time at a later date.