Appendix B Job planning toolkit

Tool B1 preparation record

Use this sheet before a job-planning meeting. It does not reproduce a national or local form. Complete it from the applicable contract, the previous agreed job plan and evidence of the work actually undertaken.

Post and grade: _____________________________________________

Employer and nation: _______________________________________

Contract or terms used, with date: __________________________

Current job-plan period: ___________________________________

Proposed review period: ____________________________________

Main changes since the last agreement:

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

Documents available:

• previous signed job plan;
• current rota and work schedule;
• diary of representative weeks;
• agreed objectives and review evidence;
• role descriptions for additional responsibilities;
• activity, quality and demand information;
• leave, cover and annualisation assumptions;
• correspondence identifying disputed or unresolved matters; and
• current national and local process documents.

Missing document or information: ____________________________

Owner and date requested: __________________________________

Tool B2 representative work diary

Record enough weeks to show ordinary variation. Include predictable work undertaken away from the clinical area. Do not enter patient identifiers. Distinguish work required by the role from voluntary professional activity and from work belonging to another appointment.

For each entry record:

• date and start and finish times;
• location or remote working;
• category of work;
• planned or unplanned status;
• direct clinical care, supporting professional activity or other agreed category under the applicable terms;
• preparation, administration and follow-through generated by the activity;
• travel where the contract or local arrangement makes it relevant;
• cancellation, interruption or cover responsibility;
• whether the work recurs, varies seasonally or arose exceptionally; and
• the source that shows why the work was required.

Week beginning: ____________________

Entry 1: ___________________________________________________

Time and category: _________________________________________

Why it arose and what followed: _____________________________

Entry 2: ___________________________________________________

Time and category: _________________________________________

Why it arose and what followed: _____________________________

Entry 3: ___________________________________________________

Time and category: _________________________________________

Why it arose and what followed: _____________________________

Pattern or variation shown by this week:

____________________________________________________________

Tool B3 annualisation assumptions

Annualisation converts recurrent work into an annual view. It must expose assumptions rather than manufacture precision. Start with the applicable contractual year and agreed working pattern. Account for leave, public holidays, study leave, predictable closures, rota frequency and work that occurs only during part of the year. Do not annualise an exceptional week as if it were ordinary.

Activity being annualised: __________________________________

Observed period and total time: ______________________________

Reason it is representative: _________________________________

Number of expected occurrences in the year: _________________

Weeks or periods excluded, and why: __________________________

Cover or cancellation assumption: ____________________________

Annual hours produced by the calculation: ____________________

Conversion into sessions or programmed activities under the applicable terms: _____________________________________________

Uncertainty or sensitivity: __________________________________

Evidence retained with the calculation: ______________________

Ask a colleague to reproduce the result from the recorded assumptions. If the result cannot be reproduced, the calculation is not ready for a decision. Keep an alternative calculation where two reasonable assumptions materially change the outcome. The meeting can then decide which assumption applies.

Tool B4 objective builder

An objective should connect a service or professional purpose with work the doctor can influence and support the employer will provide. Avoid objectives that transfer an organisational dependency to one person or make the doctor responsible for an outcome beyond the agreed authority.

Purpose or problem: _________________________________________

Expected contribution by the doctor: _________________________

Measure or evidence of progress: _____________________________

Baseline or starting position: _______________________________

Time, data, staff, training or authority required: ___________

Dependencies owned by others: _______________________________

Expected review date: _______________________________________

What will count as complete, partly complete or no longer appropriate:

____________________________________________________________

How will patient safety and workload be protected while the objective is pursued?

____________________________________________________________

Tool B5 proposal sheet

For each proposed change, state the present arrangement, the evidence for change, the requested agreement and any alternative that would remain workable.

Current duty or allocation: __________________________________

Evidence from diary, activity or role: ________________________

Proposed duty, time or resource: _____________________________

Contractual or policy source: ________________________________

Effect on other commitments: ________________________________

Patient, service or professional reason: ______________________

Alternative proposal: _______________________________________

Decision required from: _____________________________________

Tool B6 meeting and agreement record

Meeting date and participants: _______________________________

Documents considered: ______________________________________

Areas agreed: _______________________________________________

Objectives agreed, including resources: ______________________

Activities requiring further evidence: _______________________

Areas not agreed and precise reason given: ____________________

Temporary arrangement, if any: ______________________________

Person responsible for the next action: ______________________

Deadline and review date: ___________________________________

Applicable mediation or appeal route checked on: _____________

Written job plan received on: ________________________________

Corrections requested on: ___________________________________

Final status: agreed / partly agreed / not agreed / referred

Final quality check

Before accepting or disputing the document, ask:

• Does it describe the duties that will actually be undertaken?
• Are routine administration, follow-through, governance, teaching and leadership visible?
• Are predictable variations and on-call consequences treated fairly?
• Are objectives within the doctor’s influence and supported by resources?
• Are locations, timing, travel and availability expectations workable?
• Are different roles or employers kept separate?
• Are assumptions and unresolved points recorded?
• Does the written outcome match what was discussed?
• Has advice been obtained before a contractual deadline expires?

The purpose of the record is not to prove that every minute of professional life is measurable. It is to make the operating agreement sufficiently accurate that duties, support and review can be understood by both parties.

Tool B7 testing a disputed workload

Choose one area where the written job plan and actual work differ. Define it narrowly enough to investigate. “Administration is excessive” is difficult to decide; “follow-through generated by the weekly frailty clinic regularly continues beyond its allocated time” can be tested.

Question to test: ___________________________________________

Four-week observation period: _______________________________

Planned allocation: _________________________________________

Actual recurrent work recorded: _____________________________

Variation caused by case mix, staffing or interruption: ______

Work that could safely be redesigned, delegated or stopped: __

Work that remains necessary and by whom: ____________________

Resource or process change to test: __________________________

Review evidence and date: ___________________________________

Agree in advance how atypical weeks will be handled. A period containing leave, an unusual incident or exceptional cover may still provide useful evidence, but it should be labelled. Where demand fluctuates, compare more than one period and explain the range. The proposal should address both time and design: increasing allocation may be justified, but so may removing duplication, changing administrative support or setting a clearer threshold for additional work.

Tool B8 on call and work outside ordinary hours

Record the rota frequency, availability category, predictable work, call activity and recovery implications using the applicable national terms. Separate the availability supplement from time allocated or paid for work undertaken.

Rota and prospective frequency: ______________________________

Availability commitment and location: ________________________

Calls, attendances and remote clinical work sampled: _________

Follow-up work created after the duty: ________________________

Travel and rest implications: ________________________________

Annualisation assumptions: __________________________________

Proposed recognition or redesign: ____________________________

Safety concern requiring immediate action: ___________________

Do not wait for the annual meeting to raise an immediate fatigue or coverage risk. Use the relevant operational and clinical governance route while preserving the job-planning issue for formal resolution.

Tool B9 multi site and portfolio roles

Map each role separately before combining the week. This prevents one employer’s time from absorbing another organisation’s expectations and reveals travel or transition time that sits between appointments.

Role one—duties, agreement and time: _________________________

Role two—duties, agreement and time: _________________________

Cross-site travel or transition: _____________________________

Overlapping availability expectation: ________________________

Information-governance boundary: _____________________________

Conflict or cumulative-risk control: _________________________

The combined view should make clear which organisation owns each objective, provides each resource and carries each governance responsibility. Professional work performed for a College, university, regulator or independent provider should not be described as employer activity unless an agreement makes it so.

Tool B10 follow up letter

Use neutral, specific language after the meeting:

“My understanding is that we agreed _________________________.”

“The evidence still required is _____________________________.”

“Responsibility for providing it rests with _________________ by __________.”

“The unresolved point is ___________________________________.”

“The applicable review, mediation or appeal provision appears to be ____________________, checked on ____________________.”

Invite correction within a reasonable period. Attach or identify the evidence considered. Do not describe a proposal as agreed until the authorised process confirms it. If the written job plan differs from the meeting, identify the exact difference promptly rather than reopening every historic disagreement.

Worked preparation example

A doctor’s diary shows that a new supervision responsibility creates recurrent preparation, meetings and follow-through. The role description confirms responsibility but gives no time. The doctor separates the educational activity from ordinary clinical administration, annualises the observed pattern and proposes an allocation with objectives and review evidence. The employer questions whether the first month is representative because several trainees required additional support. Both parties agree a further sampling period and a temporary arrangement. The record names the data to be reviewed and the date of the decision. This is progress even though the final allocation remains open: the disagreement has become a testable question with an owner and timetable.

Employer dependency check

For every proposed objective or service change, identify what must be supplied by the organisation. This may include staffing, equipment, information, estate, administrative support, access to meetings, supervision or authority to alter a process.

Dependency: _________________________________________________

Responsible owner: __________________________________________

Delivery date: ______________________________________________

Evidence if delivery is delayed: _____________________________

Effect on objective or workload: _____________________________

Agreed adjustment: __________________________________________

At review, distinguish performance within the doctor’s control from an outcome prevented by an unmet dependency. Record changed circumstances prospectively. Do not leave the objective unchanged and later treat the missing organisational input as evidence that the doctor failed. If patient safety is affected, use the appropriate governance route rather than waiting for pay progression or the next annual job-plan cycle.