8 Job planning for development and recognition

Make the work visible

Job planning is where an ambition meets the working week. A plan for clinical development, teaching or improvement needs time, access and support. If those elements remain invisible, the activity can become an additional burden squeezed around existing commitments.

Start with what happens now. Record the activities, the time they actually require and the responsibilities attached to them. Include work that is easily overlooked: preparation, follow-up, coordination, review of results, feedback and governance. The purpose is to understand the role, not produce an inflated diary.

Use representative information rather than selecting an unusually busy week to make a case. Explain variation where it matters. A recurring task that occasionally becomes complex may need a different discussion from a predictable scheduled session. Keep the factual record separate from your proposal for change.

The older UK job-planning guide remains useful for understanding the purpose of a structured discussion, but it is not a substitute for current contract terms. BMA SPA guidance also needs to be read with its contractual and national context. This chapter therefore avoids prescribing a single SPA entitlement for every SAS doctor. [S17, S18]

Development and recognition require different conversations

For a development opportunity, the question is what new activity or support is needed and how it can fit. For recognition, the question may be whether the documents accurately describe work already required. Both can lead to a job-plan review, but they should not be merged into a vague request for “more SPA time”.

Where existing responsibility is described generically, begin with T02 and the actual duties. Establish whether the job description and job plan reflect those duties and who can corroborate the clinical scope. Recognition should be considered through evidence of the work already performed.

Where a new opportunity conflicts with current duties, identify what would be displaced, who can provide cover and whether an alternative session would meet the objective. Record the resource decision separately from agreement that the development would be useful.

A single doctor may need both discussions. Keep separate records of the existing-role issue and the proposed development activity so that one does not indefinitely postpone the other.

Formulate a specific request

A useful request names the activity, purpose, time and support. It explains the effect on existing work and the decision required. Compare “I need more time for my portfolio” with “I propose a scheduled review period after the agreed clinical activity so that feedback can be discussed and the evidence record completed; this needs to be accommodated alongside the current duties.”

The second request is easier to evaluate. It also exposes whether the evidence process is proportionate. If documenting a small activity requires hours of repetitive copying, the process itself may need simplification.

For a project, specify the contribution you will make and the resources needed. Data access, improvement support and team engagement may matter more than additional paperwork time. For teaching, include preparation and feedback, not only delivery. For clinical development, include the supporting colleague's availability.

Do not label every requested activity as a contractual entitlement. Distinguish a verified provision, a professional recommendation and a negotiated proposal. The distinction makes the request more credible and helps identify the appropriate response if agreement is not reached.

An illustrative activity comparison

This is a discussion aid, not a model contract or a universal allocation of programmed activities. The final arrangement must fit the actual role and applicable terms. The value lies in replacing ambiguity with something participants can review.

Account for displaced work

A development opportunity is not genuinely available if the doctor must also complete all existing duties unchanged. Agree what work moves, who covers it and how the supporting clinician’s observation and feedback time will be provided.

Where the proposed session is difficult to release, consider another time or a limited initial arrangement. Record any unresolved resource decision and its owner. Do not turn lack of cover into an assumption of ongoing unpaid work outside the job plan.

Record the status of each item

A meeting can contain agreement, partial agreement, refusal and uncertainty. The written record should distinguish them. “Discussed development” does not tell anyone what will happen.

For each item, record the decision, the owner of the next action and the review point. If the manager needs workforce advice, say that the item is pending that advice. If the clinical scope needs review, identify who will undertake it. If a request is declined, record the reason accurately.

Avoid turning a draft suggestion into an agreed duty by circulating ambiguous minutes. Invite correction of factual errors and retain the final account. The purpose is shared understanding rather than creating a paper trail against colleagues.

When an agreement changes, update the record. An old plan that remains in a portfolio after the service has changed can misrepresent both responsibility and support. Accurate documentation includes the period during which an arrangement applied.

Additional responsibility and temporary arrangements

A request to undertake additional responsibility needs more than an educational label. Clarify whether it is development within the existing role, temporary cover, acting up, secondment or a proposed permanent change. These terms can have different employment consequences.

Before a temporary arrangement begins, seek clarity on scope, duration, support, review, pay or other relevant terms and what happens at its end. The appropriate contract and written agreement govern the details. This handbook does not supply a standard pay formula or assume that every secondment has the same conditions.

Do not use the need for evidence as a reason to accept indefinite unsupported work. A development opportunity should have a purpose and review. If the service continues to rely on a substantially different responsibility, that should prompt a role and workforce discussion through the applicable route.

Equally, do not unilaterally change clinical duties on the basis of a disagreement about grading. Seek the appropriate clinical, managerial and professional advice while preserving safe care arrangements. Career and contractual discussions need a clear process.

When agreement is difficult

Ask what the disagreement concerns. Is the activity unnecessary, the proposed time unrealistic, the evidence incomplete or the service unable to provide cover? Each answer suggests a different next step. A general refusal can sometimes become a more useful discussion when the components are separated.

Bring the scope profile, a short factual account of time and the development objective. Ask for the relevant job-planning or review process rather than assume that an informal exchange is the final decision. Where professional or contractual advice is needed, obtain it from the appropriate source for your circumstances.

Worked wording for a defined clinical activity

The following examples are proposed wording for discussion, not model contractual clauses. Replace the activity, setting and support details with the actual agreement. The responsibility description belongs in the appropriate role document; the schedule and resources belong in the job plan.

When an activity is being developed: “The doctor will lead the specified planned review activity within the agreed patient and service scope. The supporting clinician will be available through the agreed advice arrangement. Selected decisions will be reviewed through observation and case discussion, with a formal review of the arrangement on the agreed date. Work outside the defined scope will use the established referral and escalation pathways.”

This wording still needs operational detail. State who provides advice, how contact is made, what cover exists during absence and where feedback fits. A promise of availability is inadequate if the colleague has an incompatible duty at the same time.

When the work is already established: “The doctor leads the specified review activity, formulates and communicates the medical plan within the agreed scope, coordinates outstanding medical actions and obtains additional expertise when required. The job description and job plan will be reconciled with these established responsibilities. The existing clinical advice and governance arrangements continue as described in the scope profile.”

The second example makes recognition visible without describing established responsibility as a future aspiration. Evidence of the quality of practice remains in the portfolio. Both examples preserve access to advice as part of the service arrangement.

When responsibility changes after review: “Following review of the stated evidence, the participants agree the revised responsibility and support arrangement for this activity. The change applies from the recorded date. The updated scope, exclusions, advice route and review triggers are attached to the role record, and the job plan reflects the work and supporting time required.”

Record exactly what changed. It might be the decisions the doctor leads, the method of review or the way established work is described. A change in responsibility can occur without an increase in patient numbers or removal of all consultant contact.

Make a time request that can be examined

Use a representative diary to identify preparation, delivery, follow-up and review. Separate the time already provided from the time that remains unaccounted for. Explain variability and overlapping tasks so that the same work is not counted twice.

For a teaching activity, the request may cover preparing a case exercise, delivering the session and reviewing feedback. For an improvement project, it may cover defining the measure, working with the audit team, interpreting findings and discussing a test. For clinical development, it must account for the supporting colleague's contribution as well as your own.

An illustrative proposal might identify thirty minutes for a scheduled evidence discussion after an appropriate clinical activity. That duration is a planning estimate, not an entitlement or a recommended national minimum. The local discussion should decide whether the proposed time is sufficient, where it fits and what activity changes to make it possible. Agree an early review if the estimate is uncertain.

A worked distinction between contractual minimum and wider need

The 2024 published Wales terms for both Specialty Doctors and Specialists specify a minimum of one SPA session for job planning, appraisal and revalidation. Their Schedule 4 footnote also refers to the Welsh good-practice position of around 20 per cent of a basic full-time commitment for CPD and contribution to the clinical team, with some doctors needing more. Time beyond the stated minimum and for further purposes is to be discussed and agreed through job planning. These are different statements and should be quoted with their scope intact. [S35, S36]

The useful request therefore starts with the applicable contract and then describes the actual professional work. A minimum is not evidence that all teaching, improvement and additional responsibilities can fit within it. Conversely, a broad recommendation should not be presented as an identical contractual allocation for every doctor or working pattern. BMA SPA guidance provides further professional advice on these discussions. [S18]

A whole professional job plan

The RCP's 2025 Empowering physicians guidance addresses consultants, Specialists and Associate Specialists. It supports team planning of the whole professional role, including clinical work, education, improvement and leadership, with appropriate resources and flexibility. [S42]

Its consultant discussion expects at least 2.5 SPAs in a 10-PA job plan, including 1.5 for core activities. This recommendation is not a universal SAS contractual entitlement or ceiling. Use the applicable contract, responsibilities and national guidance when agreeing time. [S42]

Account for clinical work generated outside a face-to-face session. Patient-specific administration belongs with direct clinical care. Identify wider professional activities, additional responsibilities and external duties separately, using the applicable contractual definitions. A rota of visible clinics alone is not a complete job plan. [S17, S42]

Where work varies over the year, discuss a representative cycle or annualised arrangement, including leave, cover, travel between sites and recovery after demanding work. The practical question is whether the agreed responsibilities can be delivered within the available time and resources. Recording additional duties without the capacity to perform them leaves the underlying problem unresolved. [S17, S35, S36]

A contractual minimum for supporting professional activity is a floor for the specified purpose. It is not evidence that every professional responsibility fits into that time. Make the additional work and the time it requires explicit.

What the service needs to arrange

The service needs a decision maker who can address workload and resources, clinical input where scope is involved and workforce advice where contractual consequences arise. The doctor should not be asked to negotiate separately with several people who each assume another person owns the decision.

Where development is supported, ensure the arrangement is operationally possible. Where established responsibility is being reviewed, start with the work actually required. Keep the distinction between capability and funding visible, and apply any relevant regrading policy rather than a generic assumption about vacancies.