Mentor session guide (SOP)
The standard our 1:1 mentoring sessions run to. Mentors follow this running order so the learner leaves with feedback they can act on, agreed actions, and a session report on their supervision record. Every time, no exceptions.
Tip: open this guide from a booked session on the Supervision page and the learner's agenda is woven in automatically.
What a session must deliver
- The learner's agenda is the session. Their goal, their cases, their questions, not a lecture.
- Specific, actionable feedback on their actual practice: at least one "keep doing", one "change this".
- Agreed actions (2 to 4, achievable before the next session, with a review date).
- A completed written record. The mentor files the feedback and agreed actions after the session. The learner then adds their reflection and acknowledges the report before filing it to their CPD log.
Before the session (10 minutes, at least 24h ahead)
- Read the learner's agenda. No agenda received? Message them to set one on their Supervision page (don't start a session without one).
- Note their profession and stage (pharmacist vs technician changes scope answers).
- If this is session 2+ with you: re-read the previous report's agreed actions: you will open with them.
- Pick the one improvement that matters most; plan one question that will surface it.
The 45 minutes
- Confidentiality & ground rules: "What we discuss stays between us. No patient names or identifiers, describe cases anonymously."
- Confirm the goal: "Your agenda says you want ___ . Is that still the best use of our 45 minutes, or has something more urgent come up?"
- Session 2+: "Last time you agreed to ___ . How did it go?" (revisit every action before anything new).
- "Walk me through a typical day: where does it go well, where does it hurt?"
- Listen for scope creep, isolation, missing supervision: these outrank the stated agenda if serious.
- Reflect back what you heard before moving on: "So the pattern is ___ . Agreed?"
For each case the learner brought (aim for 2, max 3):
- They present (uninterrupted, 2–3 min): "Tell me the case as you saw it at the time."
- Clarify facts only, no judgement yet.
- Explore the reasoning, not the answer: "What were you weighing up?" · "What would have changed your mind?" · "What was the worst case if you were wrong?"
- Feedback, always both halves: "What you did well was ___. What would make it stronger is ___."
- Generalise: "Where else in your week does this same pattern show up?"
If a case reveals an unresolved patient-safety issue, stop and deal with it (see red lines below).
- The learner proposes, you sharpen: "What will you do differently before we next speak?"
- 2 to 4 actions, each specific and dated. Vague intent ("be more confident") gets converted: "What would I see you doing if you were?"
- Agree the review date.
- Learner summarises the session in one minute: they say it, you correct.
- Book the next session (4-pack: from your held slots) before you hang up.
- "Write up your own account of the session on your Supervision page today while it's fresh, it's your reflective record to keep."
Red lines
- No patient-identifiable information: interrupt and restate the rule the moment it slips in.
- Unsafe practice disclosed (working beyond competence, an unreported error, a patient at ongoing risk): pause the agenda. Agree what the learner will do through their own organisation's governance (report, tell their supervisor/line manager, duty of candour). Mentoring never replaces local clinical governance or an employer's processes.
- Stay in lane: we advise on the learner's development, not on live individual patient decisions. Redirect live clinical decisions to their own team/prescriber.
- Fitness-to-practise concerns: be honest with the learner about your concern and signpost (GPhC standards, their indemnity provider, occupational health), and record that you did.
Same-day follow-up
- File the mentor report while the discussion is fresh: what was covered, specific feedback, agreed actions and a review date.
- The learner is notified to read it, add their reflection and acknowledge the record. The report becomes fixed once acknowledged.
- Note privately what to open with next time (their agreed actions).
- 4-pack learners: confirm the next held slot is booked.
A term of development, not four one-offs
Map their scope, confidence and gaps. Leave with the development plan written on their Supervision page; every later session is measured against it.
Case work against the plan. Raise the difficulty: fewer answers, more "what would you do?". Track the plan's actions each time.
Review the whole plan: what changed, what's evidenced, what's next (course, IP, new role). Agree how they continue: supervision group, membership, or standalone sessions.
Same mentor all four sessions. Every session: agenda before, report after, actions reviewed. If a session wouldn't add value yet, say so and rebook: never burn a session to fill a slot.
This SOP is part of our quality framework, see clinical governance. Learners: your side of the process lives on your Supervision page.