Attendance Management and Absence for Dental Foundation Colleagues
We recognise the importance of effective attendance management, which can have a significant impact upon training progression, the wider team and ultimately patient care.
In matters of absence and returning to work, Lead Employer offers a number of resources, support and guidance to facilitate best practice at all times for the Host Organisations who work with us.
Roles and Responsibilities
The Lead Employer is committed to supporting a culture of 100% attendance amongst our Dental Foundation Colleagues and taking proactive steps to support colleagues to remain in work where possible. The Lead Employer will ensure that Host Organisations are supported to achieve this, where possible, among their Lead Employer workforce.
Please see the following options for more information on the support and resources offered by Lead Employer:
- Annual Leave
Each trainee has an entitlement to annual leave and public holidays, these statutory annual leave entitlements are:
20 days annual leave + 8 bank holidays - part time trainees annual leave will be pro-rata'd.
The Lead Employer annual leave policy can be found here.
Please note, it is the role of the dental trainee to ensure that their annual leave is recorded on ESR once this has been approved by their Educational Supervisor.
Expectations
Trainee colleague - to discuss the requested annual leave with the Educational Supervisor. Once confirmed, add to the registrar's calendar. Maintain an accurate record of annual leave to manage throughout training. You would normally provide a minimum six week's notice of annual leave to be approved in accordance with local policies and procedures.
Supervisor - Educational Supervisor must confirm the annual leave with the trainee and upload as appropriate to ESR.
- Sickness
This is a Lead Employer policy that is administered through a Lead Employer system, locally. The foundation dentist should report all sickness to their Educational Supervisor.
The Educational Supervisor should then use their access to ESR to log the sickness.
Further information can be obtained from our Absence Support Team at
Lead Employer - STHK | Policies and Forms
Foundation Dentist
The foundation dentist needs to call or contact their Educational Supervisor to report their sickness on the day and any subsequent days after. They should explain the reason for their absence with their supervisor, with the expected date of return to work. If the sickness exceeds 7 days (including weekends), they will need to get a note from their GP to certify the sickness and return to the Lead Employer to ensure they are paid correctly.
If the foundation dentist is off work longer than +28 days, this would be classed as Long-Term Sickness. This would be managed via Lead Employer HR Advisory tem in order to support their return to work when fit to do so.
Supervisor
Upon return to work the Educational Supervisor must conduct a return to work interview with the completed documentation returned to Lead Employer. If the sickness has lasted longer than 10 days, inform the relevant trainee this will impact the number of days in training and CCT.
- Medical Appointment
Appointments for GP and dentist visits are often presumed to be an entitlement by some staff, this is not the case. Foundation dentists should make appointments in their own time at the start or end of the working day to ensure minimum disruption to the department, and any time taken must then be worked.
For a hospital out-patient appointment, time off with pay would normally be agreed for the duration of the appointment. No travel time will be allowed. The foundation dentist will need to have their appointment letter/card e.g. with hospital, date and time etc. and show this if requested to their supervisor.
- Special Leave
Special Leave is exceptional leave that may be granted to an employee in certain circumstances.
(The list of examples can be found in the policy). Please be aware that there is more detail in the policy of different categories of special leave.
This is a Lead Employer policy and can be found by clicking the link below:
Lead Employer - STHK | Policies and Forms
Foundation Dentist
Must inform their Educational Supervisor of their request for special leave as soon as possible.
Supervisor
The Educational Supervisor should complete an Application for Special Leave, signed by them and the foundation dentist then send to the Lead Employer. The application can be found in the policy (appendix 4).
- New Parent Support
This is a Lead Employer policy, and it is administered in collaboration with NHS England. The New Parent Support Policy can be found here Lead Employer - STHK | Policies and Forms
- Study Leave
This is an NHS England policy and is administered via NHSE procedures.
ESR (Electronic Staff Record)
ESR (Electronic Staff Record) is used to log absence and annual leave.
Employee self-service allows colleagues to view and update personal information, including home addresses, emergency contacts and bank account details. Further information can be found Lead Employer - STHK | Policies and Forms
Useful documents for ESR
New Approver Authorisation Form – please email: esr.helpdesk@sthk.nhs.uk. to be set up with access to ESR
Manager Approval User Guide - Lead Employer - STHK | Supervisor Self-service on ESR