LTFT (less than full time) training allows doctors to work part time in posts that are fully recognised for training. It covers any arrangement with reduced working hours. There are many reasons which may mean that a doctor wishes to train LTFT.
The practicalities of working LTFT can be difficult. Balancing work and personal commitments can often be demanding and exhausting, and deficiencies in rota design and rostering can exacerbate feelings they are not achieving as they might wish in either area.
Identifying individual needs, facilitating flexible working patterns, and providing consistency and stability (with sufficient notice for changes) are key to underpin the process of good rota design and rostering for LTFT doctors, allowing them to be effective team members in helping meet service needs.
Resources
For key principles for rostering LTFT doctors, recommendations for LTFT rota design and roster design download the LTFT section of the Good Rostering Guidance.
The rota examples outlined in the appendices of the Good Rostering Guidance illustrate the best practice guidance for LTFT trainees.
As of 18 September, all references to junior doctors in BMA communications have been changed to ‘resident doctors’.
Making up nearly 25% of all doctors in the UK, this cohort will now have a title that better reflects their huge range of skills and responsibilities.
Find out more about why junior doctors are now known as 'resident doctors'.