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, we offer 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

We are committed to supporting a culture of 100% attendance amongst our foundation dentists-in-training and taking proactive steps to support colleagues-in-training to remain in work where possible. We will ensure that host organisations are supported to achieve this, where possible, among their Lead Employer (LE) workforce.

Please see the following options for more information on the support and resources offered by Lead Employer:

• Annual Leave

  Each colleague-in-training has an entitlement to annual leave and public holidays, these statutory annual leave entitlements are:

  20 days annual leave + 8 bank holidays - part time colleagues-in-training annual leave will be pro-rata'd.

  Our annual leave policy can be found here.

  Please note, it is the role of the dentist-in-training to ensure that their annual leave is recorded on ESR once this has been approved by their Educational Supervisor.

  Expectations

  Colleague-in-training - 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 colleague-in-training and upload as appropriate to ESR.

   

   

• Sickness

  This is our policy that is administered through a Lead Employer (LE) system, locally. The foundation dentist-in-training 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 - MWL | Policies and Forms

   

  Foundation Dentist

  The foundation dentist-in-training 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 LE 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 LE HR Advisory Team 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 LE. If the sickness has lasted longer than 10 days, inform the relevant colleague-in-training 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 dentist-in-training 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-in-training 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 a colleague-in-training 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 (LE) policy and can be found by clicking the link below:

   Lead Employer - MWL | Policies and Forms

   

  Foundation dentist-in-training

  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-in-training, then send to the LE. The application can be found in the policy (appendix 4).

• New Parent Support

  This is a Lead Employer (LE) policy, and it is administered in collaboration with NHS England. The new parent support policy can be found here Lead Employer - MWL | Policies and Forms

• Study Leave

  This is an NHS England (NHSE) policy and is administered via NHSE procedures.

ESR (Electronic Staff Record)

Electronic Staff Record (ESR)  is used to log absence and annual leave.

Employee self-service allows colleagues-in-training to view and update personal information, including home addresses, emergency contacts and bank account details.

Further information can be found Lead Employer - MWL | 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 - MWL | Supervisor Self-service on ESR