There are currently 19 less than full time trainees in the Bristol School of Anaesthesia, mostly (but not exclusively) women with childcare commitments. At present there is adequate funding for flexible trainees so, once accepted, there is no delay to starting as LTFT. Selena Gray is the Associate Postgraduate Dean responsible for flexible trainees and it is to her that anyone interested in LFTF training should apply. We are mostly allocated in to ‘slot shares’ where 2 LTFTs are put into one full time slot in the forward plan hospital allocations. LTFT trainees may either be 50 or 60% of full-time. We are very fortunate that our Training Program Director organises the slot shares for us so we do not need to apply directly to each hospital for acceptance (as occurs in most other specialities). This usually works as one person working the start of the week (mon/tues/wed) and one the end of the week (wed/thurs/fri) and the out of hours commitment is shared between the two. The TPD will allocate you as a start or end of the week person at the beginning of your time as a LTFT and this can usually stay throughout your training but you may be asked, with notice, to change to the other half to access some specialist training or to fit into the rotas. Pay banding depends on the rota that is worked and changes between hospitals but basic pay is usually F6 or 7 and the out of hours supplement attracts either FA of FB supplement.
Our flexible training advisor is Chris Laxton (Consultant Anaesthetist at Southmead Hospital) who trained flexibly herself and is a good source of advice and support. We are a friendly bunch and meet up regularly for social nights. If you would like any more information please feel free to get in touch.