What is an LED? LED is a Locally Employed Doctor usually ST1-3 level employed locally by a Trust/ Provider on a local contract which maybe short term. They can be found in any specialty. they go by a range of titles including Trust grade / Trust Doctor, Clinical Fellow, FT3, Staff Grade.
It is not clear how many there are in the region maybe around 600-1000. Many are IMG (International Medical Graduates) who are in their first post in the NHS.
Some Trusts have Tutors for LED. Some are listed below. Do contact them for advice or ask your Trust Postgraduate department:
| Nicolette Morgan | Nicolette.Morgan@uhl-tr.nhs.uk | UHL |
| Sydney Beech Quality Improvement programme | Sidney.Beech@NGH.NHS.UK | Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust |
| Dr Mike Scanlan education/ workforce project lead | mikescanlan@nhs.net | Royal Chesterfield NHS Foundation Trust Chesterfield |
| Sam Hamer | Leicester Partnership Trust | |
| Kish Nalla | Nanda.nalla@nuh.nhs.uk | Nottingham University Hospital |
| Dr Zahib Muhammed Noor | Sherwood Forest Hospital NHS Trust | |
| Fuad Abid | fuad.abid@nhs.net |
UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS OF DERBY AND BURTON NHS FOUNDATION TRUST |
| Dr. Hemanth Subramanyam | h.subrahmanyam@nhs.net |
Kettering General Hospital |
Some supporting information:
GMC run a course " Welcome to the UK" for IMG/ EMG : https://www.gmc-uk.org/about/what-we-do-and-why/learning-and-support/workshops-for-doctors/welcome-to-uk-practice/doctors
Some Trusts run courses with similar content - ask your employer. Remember that things will be done differently in the UK to your own country which includes cultural norms , body language, ethical decisions. Do not be afraid to ask about anything and use lots of reflective learning.
Other things to ask about when new to the country are about housing , school applications, banking and immigration laws. Citizen's Advice are a good place to go: https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/
Trust Induction and Mandatory Training in subjects such as infection control should be standard for all new starters.
The documents 2 and 3 below from UHL have lots of information and advice.
Contracts are locally developed for these roles so ensure you are clear what your terms and conditions of employment are including oncall comitments. Talk to others in the same sort of roles for advice what to look out for. Ensure there is protected time for learning and development often called CPD ( Clinical professional development) time. Time tables/ job plans are broken down into sessions or PAs ( professional activities ) of 4 hours each. 1 PA for CPD is advised as a minimum in a contract. Check there is Study leave time and funding offered.
e-portfolios are used by many specialties / colleges to track progress which use work based assesments - ask you employer/ postgraduate education department and make sure you are recording your learning either on paper or in an electronic portfolio.This is evidence to support an application to another / training post.Trusts should offer someone to act as your educational supervisor at this stage - make good use of them to learn from.
Jobs are advertised on NHSjobs : https://www.jobs.nhs.uk/
Training posts are through the specialty college eg: https://www.rcpch.ac.uk/resources/specialty-training-level-1-application-guidance
Other career pathways to consider are intentional CESR Programmes which are local and specialty specific or SAS ( Specialty and Associate Specialist posts ) which are permanent and specialty specific with a national contract if you dont want to be a consultant. ( see the other pages )
Fellowships - look out for opportunities via your Trust or HEEM
Document 1 below shares the experince of one Fellowship for Dr Aleem Ahmed in UHL which has lead to greater support for LED Doctors like yourself:
