1. Handbook 1: The SAS career in the modern NHS
Recognise SAS as a substantive and diverse career, separate recognition from progression, and turn a broad concern into a decision that can be answered.
Learning programme · #P2
The SAS Doctors Handbook
A structured 22-module programme based on The SAS Doctors Handbook, with direct access to the complete online handbook.
Who this programme is for
Developed specifically for SAS doctors working in the NHS. The programme remains valuable to consultants, resident doctors, locally employed doctors, international medical graduates and other healthcare professionals where the subject is transferable; SAS-specific contractual and progression material should be read in that context.
Read the complete online handbook
Certificate process: manual
Sign in to record progress and qualify for a programme certificate.
2. Handbook 2: Grade, title, contract, role and scope
Learn to separate the labels attached to a doctor from the evidence of what the doctor is appointed, authorised and competent to do.
3. Handbook 3: The four-nation map
Use a four-nation source map to identify which employment, appraisal, progression and pension arrangements apply before relying on apparently similar guidance.
4. Handbook 4: Entering or changing an SAS post
Compare an SAS offer or changed post systematically, separating appointment, employment, immigration, indemnity and practical onboarding questions.
5. Handbook 5: Understanding the employment framework
Understand how national terms, individual contractual documents and local policies fit together, and what to do when the records appear inconsistent.
6. Handbook 6: Job planning as the operating agreement
Use job planning as the operating agreement connecting duties, time, objectives, resources and review rather than as a static timetable.
7. Handbook 7: Making hidden work visible
Identify recurring clinical, administrative, educational and governance work that has become invisible and prepare proportionate evidence for review.
8. Handbook 8: Pay progression additional work and disagreement
Separate pay progression, additional work, contractual disagreement and formal appeal routes so that each question is taken to the right process.
9. Handbook 9: Working safely within role and resources
Recognise mismatches between role, competence, workload and resources; address immediate safety first and record unresolved organisational dependencies.
10. Handbook 10: Annual appraisal
Prepare for appraisal as a reflective professional process, selecting proportionate evidence from the whole scope of practice and turning discussion into useful objectives.
11. Handbook 11: Revalidation
Distinguish appraisal from revalidation and understand the roles of the doctor, appraiser, responsible officer or suitable person and GMC.
12. Handbook 12: The professional portfolio
Build a purposeful professional portfolio in which evidence is indexed to a claim or decision rather than accumulated without a defined use.
13. Handbook 13: Feedback concerns and formal processes
Respond proportionately to feedback, concerns and formal processes while distinguishing learning, employment, regulatory and legal routes and protecting deadlines.
14. Handbook 14: Planning progression without a training number
Define the intended destination before building evidence, then identify the criteria, gaps, opportunities and decision-makers relevant to that route.
15. Handbook 15: Regrading to Specialist in Wales
Understand the Wales Specialist regrading route as a specific national process requiring evidence against the applicable criteria rather than seniority alone.
16. Handbook 16: Regrading to Specialist in Scotland
Understand the Scotland Specialist regrading route and keep its national policy, evidence requirements and decision process distinct from other UK routes.
17. Handbook 17: Competing for Specialist posts in England and Northern Ireland
Prepare for competitive Specialist appointments in England and Northern Ireland by matching evidence to the post and person specification rather than assuming automatic progression.
18. Handbook 18: Specialist registration through the Portfolio Pathway
Approach the GMC Portfolio Pathway as a regulatory application with specialty-specific evidence requirements, not as an employment regrading exercise.
19. Handbook 19: Leadership education and supervision
Make leadership, education and supervision work visible by defining purpose, authority, time, deliverables and evidence of effect.
20. Handbook 20: Workplace dignity support and speaking up
Recognise workplace dignity and speaking-up issues, distinguish support from formal process, and seek timely help where safety, discrimination or employment consequences may arise.
21. Handbook 21: NHS pensions and long term career choices
Understand the main NHS pension questions that interact with SAS career decisions and prepare accurate records and questions for scheme administrators or individual advisers.
22. Handbook 22: Career transitions succession and later practice
Plan later-career transitions and succession by connecting professional responsibilities, workload, pension choices, knowledge transfer and sustainable practice.