Study Leave & SPA
Here you will find information on claiming study leave in the North West Deanery.
This link will take you directly to the HEENW study leave website where forms and additional ifnormational can be found when making an application.
We strongly advise you read the North West School of Anaesthesia's Guide to Supervision, Study leave & Educational Development Time.
Allowance
All trainees are entitled to 30 days per year of study leave.
Claiming Leave
To claim study leave you must first complete a FS1 Form and complete sections A-C.
This form should then be emailed to your Education Supervisor and Rota Master to eletronically sign.
Once they have counter signed the form should be forwarded to your study leave administrator (see below)
They will forward the form to your TPD, and if accepted it will be returned to you with a study leave expenses claims form.
Study Leave Administrators
ACCS - bfwh.postgraduate.education@nhs.net
Core Trainee North School - postgrad@srft.nhs.uk
Core Trainee South School - coresurgery@mft.nhs.uk
ST3+ Trainee - lesley.taylor@mft.nhs.uk
Study Leave Expenses
Once accepted you will be sent a study leave expenses claim form. This should be returned within 3 months after the first day of your course OR prior to the end of february following your course, whichever is sooner.
You can claim expenses for:
Travel - Up to the cost of a standard class return ticket via train. Mileage is charged at 23p/mile from base hospital.
Course Fee - As specified in the original claim when approved.
Accommodation - £120/night B&B outside London and £150/night within London.
Subsistence - up to £20.
Keep records and receipts for accommodation and subsistence claims to be successful.
Educational Development Time (EDT) Time
Formerly known as SPA time, from August 2021 trainees will be allowed to take 'SPA' time to work towards viewing online tutorials, completing QI projects, being involved in preparation for teaching and training others, completing tasks towards further Post-graduate qualifications and preparing their applications for ST4, consultant jobs or other roles. This will also allow time for trainees to work towards completing evidence towards the Generic Professional Capabilities on the 2021 Curriculum.
This will be separate to Study Leave, and will take the place of the Primary and Final weekly tutorial programmes.
It is voluntary and traineess may prefer to spend the time in the clinical workplace.
SPA for different years of training:
EDT (SPA) Workbooks
These workbooks have been designed for trainees completing stage one and stage two training. They contain lists of appropriate video tutorials available for each stage of training and also the dates for the face to face tutorials/courses which can also be found on the teaching and revision section of this website:
These are live google documents that are 'read-only'. It is advised that you open the file and save a copy for your own personal use. You can then edit and tick off each tutorial you watch/attend, and use this as supplementary evidence of how you have utilised your SPA time and this can be uploaded to your Lifelong Learning Portfolio as evidence of CPD. If a tutorial name has not got a link attached to it, this means it has not yet been created (work ongoing). Please check the SAVEd section of mmacc.uk website, or this master copy of the stage 1 and 2 workbooks for the most up to date tutorial list.
Alternatively if you do not have access to Google Documents and would prefer to use an Excel Spreadsheet, the links can be found here: