Doctors in Difficulty
Occasionally learners might find themselves in difficulty, due to ill health or other reasons. We are all here to help and depending on the type of difficulties you find yourself in, you may want to consider discussing these issues with your Educational Supervisor, one or all of the Programme Directors and/or your Clinical Supervisor. Please refer to the ---Gold Guide--- for guidance with regard to particular scenarios.
Sources of support and help
The Oxford Deanery Career Development Unit (CDU) has been established to provide a comprehensive careers service and performance support for all doctors and dentists in primary and secondary care. The careers service provides local specialty information and career management skills workshops for the Oxford Foundation School. It also provides personal career guidance for those with a career dilemma, including those with health or disability problems. The performance support provides confidential personal coaching for doctors or dentists who self-refer. More information can be found at http://www.oxforddeanerycdu.
There are a variety of offers regarding counselling for doctors. Particularly when in need of support in a difficult situation, it might be worth considering one of these services as well. Depending on your membership status you may be able to access counselling via the British Medical Association (BMA http://www.bma.org.uk): The BMA Counselling Service is staffed by professional telephone counsellors, 24-hours a day, seven days a week. All counsellors are members of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy and are bound by strict codes of confidentiality and ethical practice. Counselling can be helpful in addressing the root causes of your problems and reducing the impact of their consequences.
---Doctors for Doctors--- runs alongside the BMA Counselling Service giving doctors and medical students in distress or difficulty the choice of speaking in confidence to another doctor. Additional sources of support include:
- Dovedale Counselling- provides support to Oxford and Berks GPs their famililes
- LMC list of support services
Don---t forget that your Educational Supervisor and Programme Directors are an important source of support.