Working in isolation.

Abstract

The key finding from our research was that professional isolation remains a major issue for today’s sessional GPs. We found that sessional GPs had limited access to information about education, clinical systems and professional support structures. This included missing out on information cascades from deaneries and PCTs relating to education,up-to-date guidelines and services, vacancies and career opportunities. There were limited opportunities for professionalpeer interaction, for example to receive feedback; discuss significant events, challenging cases and new clinical updates, and to benchmark against peers. This lack of professional interaction was often the result of not being invited to practice meetings, or them being held during days on which they were not working. These findings have significant implications regarding revalidation in terms of the way these doctors work, integrate and are supported.