Table 2.

Opportunities for delivering clinical care and for continued professional development.

Theme	Recommendation for engagement
Outpatient activity Training rating: good	• Clinic participation must be tailored to the patient groups and the trainee's level of experience / independence • Participation at consultant-led video clinics can be either observational or through actively leading the consultation
Multidisciplinary team meetings Training rating: excellent	• Attendance is possible as an observer • Ideally those shielding should be encouraged to take an active role by preparing patients’ notes, imaging and histology where appropriate • These opportunities can also be recorded on the trainee's e-portfolio for review at progression meetings
Triaging referrals Training rating: average	• Involvement in this process offers those shielding the opportunity to understand referral pathways, to develop skills in clinical prioritisation and to identify cases to see in clinic
Discharge letters Training rating: average	• In centres that have electronic case notes and prescribing, those who are shielding may be able to write discharge letters and take-home prescriptions. We would not recommend this as this work is vulnerable to omission of relevant details and we would advocate the team physically seeing the patient each day doing this task
Audit, quality improvement & research Training rating: excellent	• Shielding can give protected time to complete audit, quality improvement and research tasks • The particular project should be considered in detail as there are limitations in the information that is available remotely • These opportunities contribute to completion of training requirements • Given the restrictions in face-to-face meeting sizes, audit and research meetings, are now often via an online platform, allowing an assessment of audit to be completed
Organising & delivering teaching Training rating: excellent	• During the pandemic, the virtual webinar has become more popular4 and involvement in teaching in this format can be on a local, regional or national level both in the trust, for external groups or even for local Universities • The latter also provides further opportunities for further development including interviewing applicants, writing exams or examining clinical skills • Contacting your departmental/ hospital lead for teaching, local university or even national trainee group will guide you towards medical education opportunities
Webinars & conferences Training rating: excellent	• There are a number of webinars, both in and outside of working hours run through national (eg JPRAS journal club, PLASTA) and international groups (Eg ICOPLAST) • A number of national and international meetings have moved to an online format, often at a reduced price to the traditional meeting • Study leave and budget can be utilised for these opportunities