Travel and Accomodation

The Yorkshire and Humber School of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine covers a large geographical area that has been divided into three areas; ‘Hull hub’, ‘Leeds hub’ and ‘Sheffield hub’. Most anaesthesia and intensive care medicine specialty training posts have a 12-month rotation in a neighboring hub.

Rotations have been designed to try and keep commuting times to within 60 minutes of the main teaching hospital in each hub. The rotation commute times are NOT from the trainees home address as this would be impossible to achieve whilst also maintaining fairness to other trainees. Some rotations do have longer commutes which are unavoidable, in these cases accommodation may be booked at that hospital free of charge. If a charge is incurred it will be reclaimable from HEE-YH.

Where a trainee advises a hospital that they feel unable to travel home following a night shift or a long, late shift due to tiredness, the hospital shall, where possible, provide an appropriate rest facility where the trainee can sleep free of charge or reclaimable from HEYH. Where the provision of an appropriate rest facility is not possible, the hospital must make sure that alternative arrangements are in place for the trainee's safe travel home.

Travel expenses for attending courses, conferences or events locally are usually included in the Study leave application, but will need claiming back from the local Trust Department of Postgraduate Medical Education (DME). For courses outside the local region travel expenses will be at the discretion of the TPD or Head of School, when a study leave form has been submitted and should not be considered as guaranteed.

Excess travel expenses and reimbursement of relocation expenses are the responsibility of the employing NHS Trusts, and the exact arrangements and entitlements can vary between hospitals. Therefore trainees are strongly encouraged to discuss eligibility with the relevant Trust prior to taking up an appointment, and when making claims. Health Education England's policies on travel expenses and other issues are available HERE. In addition, new National guidance has been issued from October 2020 that applies to all trainees who commenced training from Aug 2020 onwards. This new policy is available at the bottom of the page or can be accessed HERE.

In addition, the answers to some frequently asked questions on travel expenses and accommodation are detailed below. Please note these relate to the OLD expenses policy and this will gradually be phased out over the next few years as new trainees enter the scheme:

Can I claim accommodation for the entire placement outside of my Hub?

Yes, you can choose to claim some expenses towards the cost of accommodation, for the duration of your placement outside of your hub. These are fixed costs that vary from Trust to Trust and are set each year. Specific details will need to be sought from individual Trusts. However, you cannot claim travel expenses as well. Oncall arrangements are different

Can I claim travel expenses?

Yes, you can claim travel expenses for the difference between the distance from your home to your “base hospital” and from your home to the Trust. The “Base hospital” is the nearest hospital to your home ON YOUR ROTATION. I.e. if you were on a rotation that featured Sheffield, Scunthorpe, Leeds, or Doncaster you could only set one of these as your base hospital. It cannot be one of the other Trusts.

However, as mentioned above you cannot claim for both travel expenses AND long term accommodation. You can claim one or the other.

Post-oncall accommodation is different. See below.

Can I claim accommodation after an oncall?

Yes, this is a contractual requirement with the new contract. All Trusts will provide an area for rest after an oncall. This will either be free, or the costs will be reclaimable from HEYH. This is different to long term accommodation