Trainee Study Leave

Trainee Entitlement (including Eligibility and Exclusions)

Grade

Time Allowance

F1

No Allowance – can borrow up to 5 days from F2 allowance for Tasters

F2

10 Days – Less any days taken in F1 year

CMT / IMT / DCT / ST 1-8

30 Days

GPST in HOSPITAL Rotations

10 days per 4 month rotation Trainees are required to use some of their study leave allowance to attend at least 1 VTS Wednesday afternoon teaching session per month. I day of study leave allowance should be reserved for your GP ES Review leaving a total of 7 days available per 4 months

GPST in GP SURGERY/ ITP or PSYCH Placements

10 days per 4 months pro-rata, however 5 days are deducted due to weekly VTS Wednesday afternoon teaching sessions which leaves 5 days total. We deliver a minimum of 10 Wednesday afternoon half day VTS teaching sessions per 4 months cycle which is how the 5 days are calculated.

Less Than Full Time (LTFT)

Allowance will be calculated pro-rata

Applying for study leave

Training Doctors based in a Hospital (F1, F2, ST1-8, CT1-3, IMT1-3, DCT, GPST) should follow the ONLINE study leave process.  This can only be accessed when connected to the hospital IT network or using the remote-working VPN on a Trust device.
Click here to access online study leave application 

For any Training Doctors based in a GP-Surgery or Psychiatry placement, the PAPER-BASED process should be followed. 
Click here to download the paper-based form (for placements in Psychiatry and GP-Surgery only)

For any Training Doctors based in a GP-Surgery or Psychiatry placement, the new online process can be followed. Click here to try the new online form.

All applications must be submitted 8 weeks before the date of the study leave, to allow enough time to go through the approval procedure. Retrospective Study Leave forms cannot be accepted - you must apply for Study Leave before the date of the Study Leave event.

All estimated costs should be included in the application, as these cannot be approved after the event.

Any requests with total costs amounting to £1000 or more will require additional HEE approval before local approval can be given. Your Study Leave & Expenses Co-Ordinator will send this to HEE for you.

All International Study Leave is considered to be 'Discretional' request, and needs to be approved by HEE before being booked. HEE will advise of which costs they will accept, if approved.

The online form progress through the system can be checked on your IT Portal – go to My Forms

You will receive regular reminders, information and updates via SMS to your phone from your Study Leave team

Click on the image to the right for a full flow chart of the study leave process.

All enquires should go to ekhuft.esl@nhs.net

FAQs

Q. Where can I read more on how to apply for study leave?

A. You can find our guidance here and you can read Health Education England's guidance on study leave, including approved specialty curriculum course information and codes, here.

Q. How do I apply for courses that are not in the list of either mandatory or optional courses?

A. 'Discretional' Study Leave - that is anything not on the HELaSE Codes list, and all international events - requires a special code. Click here for further guidance on how to complete a "Discretional" code request ("Discretional" Study Leave is the new name for "Aspirational" Study Leave)

  • Anything outside of the "Mandatory" or "Optional" codes needs to be approved as "Discretional"

  • To apply for "Discretional", you will need to follow another route rather than the usual Study Leave route, please see the guide provided below. This also applies to all International Study Leave and is limited to one request per training programme, the funding for this may also limited.

  • When applying for "Discretional" Study Leave complete the request, by following the guide above, at least 10 weeks in advance, to allow time for your application to be processed.

  • If your "Discretional" request is granted, you will be given a unique "Discretional Study Leave" code. You will need to forward this to your Trainee Study Leave Co‑ordinator when received.

Q. How do I claim for study leave expenses?

A. All Study Leave expenses must be claimed on the Easy Expense system: https://ekhuft.easy.giltbyte.com/user/login/ 

All Study Leave expenses claims MUST be submitted within 1 month after attending the study leave event, or immediately after if leaving the Trust; this reduces the risk of any delays or possible rejection. Once you have left the Trust you will not be able to submit or amend a claim and will not be reimbursed.

Click here for more guidance on how to correctly complete an expenses claim request