In this episode of the GP+ Careers podcast, Sophie interviews Dr Tarana Hafiz, a GP with an extended role in Palliative Care. The interview explores the practicalities of her split week between general practice and specialty work, the benefits of pursuing a special interest, and advice for other GPs on how to develop a similar career, emphasizing the importance of mentorship and hands-on experience over formal qualifications like diplomas.
Top tips
Prioritize finding mentors and building your network:
- Finding mentors is considered essential. Look for someone who is willing to invest in you, take the time to train you, and be part of your career journey, informing you of opportunities.
- Engage with Consultants: Tarana states that Palliative care consultants are notoriously friendly andvery approachable. Don’t hesitate to reach out to them, especially during your GP training, to spend some time with them and build relationships.
Gain direct clinical experience before investing in qualifications:
- Tarana emphasises that gaining experience is key. Instead of immediately investing time and money in expensive diplomas or courses, focus on practical exposure first.
- Shadowing and short contracts: Tarana suggests speaking to your local team, having shadowing days, or taking on a short-term contract with the local hospice to determine if the specialty is truly for you.
- Attend clinics: Ask local community or hospital teams if you can go to clinics to see if this is an area where you want to invest more time.
Start locally with enthusiasm and Quality Improvement:
- The most important requirement is having enthusiasm and interest to be part of the specialty. You can begin developing your interest right within your current general practice setting.
- Utilize Daffodil Standards: A great place to start is by looking at the Daffodil Standards. This is a framework/toolkit that GPs can use for a quality improvement project within their own practice, focusing on areas like early identification, bereavement, and care after death for patients with advanced serious illness and end-of-life care.
- Join projects: Reach out to local teams and ask them to be part of quality improvement projects.
Engage in diverse learning opportunities: There are a variety of ways to build your knowledge in the area such as:
- E-learning: Spend time doing e-learning to understand what palliative care is about. Resources include e-learning available through the RCGP website.
- Workshops and courses: Attend local training and courses available from organisations like the Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) or Royal College of Physicians (RCP) on topics such as symptom control, advanced communication skills, and advanced care planning. Also, some local hospices nationwide sometimes run affordable communication workshops.
- Reading: Spend time reading around the subject, including insightful books from authors like Kathryn Mannix, who writes about terminal illness from a patient's perspective.
Be open to varied job titles and focus on the opportunity: When looking for paid roles, remember that opportunities may not always be advertised specifically as "GP with a special interest".
- Look broadly: The role Tarana obtained was not a GP with a special interest position initially; she took it on as a Clinical Fellow, which later developed into a speciality doctor role.
- Satisfy your cravings: Focus on finding an opportunity that allows you to manage more complexities and satisfy the craving for a more varied work week.
- Job titles are secondary: Tarana stressed that the job title was not the primary concern; the opportunity to embark on a different venture and manage medical complexities is more important.
