Employment

When applying for posts, you must always be open and honest about your experience, qualifications and current employment status.

When applying for and accepting posts, you must follow the guidance in Good medical practice ⁵, bearing in mind how your decisions may affect patient safety.

If you have specific responsibility for recruitment, promotion or other staff rewards or compensation, you must make sure that the process is fair and transparent, and that decisions are based on objective criteria.

You must make sure you have, and anyone you appoint to take part in these activities has, the skills and competence needed and the opportunity to undertake appropriate training, including in relation to equality, diversity and non-discrimination in employment matters.

You must take part in the induction offered by your employer when you join an organisation or move into a new role. You should also contribute to the induction of colleagues when asked.

You must make sure that any new healthcare professional you manage is offered relevant induction and that induction policies and procedures contain information that is relevant, accessible and proportionate to their role and length of employment within your organisation.

You should be willing to take part in a mentoring scheme offered by your employer.

You should be willing to take on a mentoring role for more junior colleagues and other healthcare professionals.

If you have agreed to act as a mentor, you must make sure that you are competent to take on the role and that you can fulfil your responsibilities, including undertaking appropriate training and keeping your skills up to date. You must be clear about the aims and purpose of the mentoring, the scope of your role as a mentor and your availability to provide advice and support when needed.

You must make sure that staff who are new to an organisation or are moving into a new role have access to an appropriate mentoring arrangement¹³ , where relevant, depending on the nature of their clinical practice and their responsibilities.¹³ 

You must recognise and work within the limits of your competence and you must make sure, to the best of your ability, that you are appropriately supervised for any task you perform. You must be willing to ask for advice and support from colleagues when necessary.

You must make sure that the people you manage have appropriate supervision, whether through close personal supervision (for newly qualified colleagues, or colleagues in training, for example) or through a managed system with clear reporting structures.

If you are responsible for supervising staff, whatever your role, you must understand the extent of your supervisory responsibilities, give clear instructions about what is expected and be available to answer questions or provide help when needed. You must support any colleagues you supervise or manage to develop their roles and responsibilities by appropriately delegating tasks and responsibilities. You must be satisfied that the staff you supervise have the necessary knowledge, skills and training to carry out their roles.

Many of the skills of being a medical professional can be learnt only by specific, on the job training in the work placements begun prior to qualification and continuing through the early post-qualification years. Every medical professional who comes into contact with students or healthcare professionals in training should act as a positive role model in their behaviour towards patients, colleagues and others.

If you are formally involved in teaching in the workplace - for example, teaching trainee doctors, physician associates, anaesthesia associates on placements - you must develop the skills, attitudes and practices of a competent teacher. This includes respecting cultural diversity and making reasonable adjustments for those with a disability without affecting patient safety or educational outcomes.

If you are responsible for managing teaching and training in your organisation, you must make sure:

1. Only people with the appropriate knowledge, skills and attitudes carry out any teaching and training for which you are responsible.
2. There are enough staff members from appropriate disciplines, and with the necessary skills and experience¹⁴, to deliver teaching and training and to support the learning and development of trainees and students.
3. Systems are in place to identify and record the educational and training needs of students, trainees and staff, including locums, so that the best use is made of the time and resources available for keeping knowledge and skills up to date.
4. An appropriate environment for training is provided, including by implementing reasonable adjustments to meet individual trainees' needs in line with the Equality Act 2010.¹⁵ 
5. You provide opportunities for those you manage to keep up to date and develop their skills as teachers and trainers, and make sure that there are systems in place for regular feedback and appraisal of those skills.

You should understand the difference between a personal grievance, that is a complaint about your own employment situation, and a concern about a risk, malpractice or wrongdoing that affects others. This is particularly important if patients or members of the public are at risk of harm.¹⁶ It can sometimes be difficult to separate personal grievances from a concern about patient safety. If these overlap, you should acknowledge any personal grievance that may arise from the situation, but focus on patient safety.¹⁷ You should as far as possible make sure you use the correct procedure to make your personal grievance known or raise your concern.¹⁸ 

If you have a personal grievance that you cannot resolve informally, you should follow your organisations grievance procedure. If you have a concern about patient safety, you must follow the guidance in Raising and acting on concerns about patient safety ⁴ 

You should help staff you manage to identify the appropriate procedure for dealing with their personal grievance or concern about patient safety.

You must make sure that your own health does not put patients at risk and you must follow the guidance in Good medical practice ⁵⁵ in relation to your own health.

You should be aware that poorly performing colleagues may have health problems and respond constructively where this is the case. You should encourage such colleagues to seek and follow professional advice and offer them appropriate help and support. You must not unfairly discriminate against colleagues because of an issue related to their health or a disability.

You should, as far as possible, support colleagues who are experiencing performance problems.

But, in all cases, you should remember your duty to raise concerns where you believe a colleague may not be fit to practise or may otherwise pose a risk of serious harm to patients.⁴ 

You must promote the health and wellbeing of staff you manage.

You must make sure that there are clear and effective procedures for responding to concerns about colleagues' conduct, performance or health. This includes referring them to occupational health or other services, where appropriate, and making sure that staff are aware of these procedures.

You should be prepared to discuss constructively and sympathetically any work problems that the people you manage may have. You must deal supportively and, where possible, openly with problems in the conduct, performance or health of people you manage.¹⁹ 

You must make sure that people you manage have access to support for any health or performance problems they have. You must make sure that people are not unfairly discriminated against because of their health or disability.

You must make sure that you respond appropriately to requests for reasonable adjustments for staff with a disability or health condition in line with the Equality Act 2010.