The First 500 - A report on London Deanery's Coaching ... - Mentoring

• It is the responsibility of mentors toretain contact with the mentee andmake a record of all attempts to contact.If the appointment is cancelled, thementor should arrange a new date. It isimportant that a signed Mentor contractis submitted along with invoices. Pleasesee the Mentor Contract in the nextsection.• Mentors will tell the administrator whenthe mentoring contract is completed, sothat an Exit Evaluation Questionnaire willbe sent to the departing Mentee.• Mentors should be prepared to travel areasonable distance to meet the Mentee.• Mentors should keep a PersonalDevelopment Plan (PDP) in relation totheir own learning needs as mentors.• Mentors will sign the Declarationform for the selection and reselectionpurposes.• Mentors will inform the Mentoring Leadshould he/she be involved in a complaintby the Mentee (see declaration form).RECRUITING AND SELECTING MENTORSAwareness of the service was raised through flyers, taster sessionsto the educational networks in primary and secondary care, andby word of mouth. Further information and application formswere provided on the website. <strong>The</strong> online application form wasdesigned to identify which candidates had previous experienceand to capture candidates’ views and expectations of mentoring .A few applicants argued that they did not require training as theywere working as a mentor, had previous training or their experiencehad already provided them with the required skills. However theprinciples of the service required all applicants to be trained ina consistent manner and undergo an assessment. Those whostated in their application that they were already trained wererequired to attend a “gateway day” to refresh their training and beassessed. Unless the applicant had both passed the assessmentand previously undertaken at least three days of a substantiverecognised training course they were required to undertake theDeanery’s three day training course in mentoring skills. A handfulof applicants with extensive mentoring experience but less than3 days training were allowed to start mentoring after passing theassessment provided they agreed to undertake the three daytraining course within the next year.<strong>The</strong> recruitment process targeted doctors and dentists who hadeducational roles, and encouraged applicants from a wide rangeof specialties and settings. <strong>The</strong> intention was to embed a cultureof coaching and mentoring across London’s NHS. In the secondrecruitment round applicants from over-represented specialitiesand Trusts were not accepted for training while extra efforts weremade to recruit from the under-represented areas.• Mentors will be prepared to appraise amentor colleague.• Where mentors and mentees decideto continue with their sessions afterdeanery funding expires (e.g. with theclient or a trust paying) the arrangementsshould be approved by the Deanery.Mentor Handbook, London DeaneryCoaching and mentoring website11 Sep 2010London Deanery Coaching and Mentoring Service 17