4: GP+ Sexual Health with Dr Rachel Taylor

The GP+ Careers Podcast

This week, Dr Sophie Lumley interviews Dr Rachel Taylor, a GP partner, Trainer, Appraiser and Mentor who works mainly as a GP but also in sexual health clinics. Rachel outlines her career journey, ideas of how to get into this area of work and her highlights of the role.
Top tips:

• Consider the motivation for the role: Be very clear what your drivers are for taking on the additional role e.g. is it an area you have a passion for, is it to have more flexibility in your career or even increase your income? Once you have established your ‘why’ seek out the opportunities.
• Embrace the flexibility: Your life can change over the years with family and career commitments but you can find a role to suit you. You may be able to pick up shifts in your local sexual health clinics to suit your schedule.
• Increase your competence with a qualification: There are qualifications such as the DFSRH which fits very well with general practice with a very well resourced, accessible website and achievable qualification if you are already doing your GP training.
• Start your search close to home: Not sure where to start? Rachel recommends contacting your local gynae clinics and offer to sit in and speak to the team about opportunities available. Most local sexual health services are run by public health which is another option to explore. You could also join webinars/events on sexual health and contact those who are teaching on it directly about opportunities or further study.
• There may be funding available: If you want to gain expertise in sexual health ask your practice if they can fund you to train in fitting coils/implants, but you should also be prepared to fund yourself or do it in your own time. Another option for funding could be through a fellowship scheme. Sometimes bursaries are available which could be used to backfill some of your time or pay for you to go on courses and enable you to work elsewhere.

Dr Rachel Taylor is a GP Partner, Trainer, Appraiser and Mentor. She has a special interest in Sexual Health and is a DFSRH Faculty Trainer. She works mainly as a GP but has always worked in Sexual Health clinics to support her interest, clinical skills and awareness in this area.
Further reading
The Faculty of Sexual & Reproductive Healthcare
https://www.fsrh.org/
RCGP Women's Health Library
https://elearning.rcgp.org.uk/course/index.php?categoryid=57
RCGP Women's Health Toolkit
https://elearning.rcgp.org.uk/mod/book/view.php?id=12534
RCGP Gynaecology and Women's Health Hub
https://elearning.rcgp.org.uk/course/view.php?id=772
FSRH Diploma
https://www.fsrh.org/education-and-training/diploma/
British Menopause Society
https://thebms.org.uk/
West Midlands Association for Contraception and Sexual Health
https://wmcash.org.uk/