Out of Hours Requirements

Note: The following principles were adopted by PGTC in relation to OOH

How may out of hours must I complete in order to fulfil CSCT requirement?

Trainees must complete a minimum 120 out of hours to fulfill CSCT requirements.

This requirement is for 3rd and 4th year trainees only.

What is not considered OOH?

Learning and therefore the time spent during the routine day, of a registrar, does not count towards OOH. Examples such as onsite 'holding the phone' at lunchtime or dealing with house-calls are not included.

Working on-site after 17:00 is outside of routine working hours with regard to HSE contract, but is not recognised towards OOH learning time

What is considered OOH?

"Active Hours": further discussion is required as regards this entity for those Trainees that are involved in OOH outside of the Co-operative structure. Interpretation of European Working Time Directive identifies active time as that spent in contact with patients and in transit to and from patients and the recognised on-call base. The learning yield from time spent should be reviewed by Trainee and Trainer in association with the Programme Directing Team.

Guidance regarding OOH time for a trainee; as per the Criteria Document 5.6.6 stands:

Maximum hours: a trainee must meet their minimum requirements. If their trainer's OOH commitment exceeds this, they may be expected to spend more time in OOH but no greater than that of their Trainer.

Am I limited to the OOH that I can carry out?

The merits of offering each trainee exposure to a variety of OOH arrangements is recognised by PGTC and encouraged. It is desirable that each trainee be afforded the opportunity to work at some point in a formal co-operative OOH facility

This can be organised within but also among GP training programmes under the guidance of the Programme Director.

Each trainee should feel confident and competent to work in any recognised OOH arrangement in Republic of Ireland. The determination of their learning needs should take account of this.

Any activities that may or may not be classified as OOH should be clarified with the Programme Director. If the Director feels a particular activity qualifies as OOH time, then this should be submitted for discussion to the National Director of GP Training. The outcome of any necessary consultation with Assessors or other relevant committees or members of the PGTC will then be co-ordinated by the National Director and recorded centrally. Thus additional OOH activities can be collated and shared with GP trainees, trainers, scheme directing team members to preserve continuity nationally. PGTC will have the final decision making on all such issues.