www.gmc-uk.org/nts

Agenda

Why the survey matters

NTS 2014: what the survey told us last year

Survey content

Confidentiality

How to take part

Why the survey matters

Your views count

The survey is your opportunity to help improve the quality of postgraduate and foundation training across the UK.

It is an important part of the work the GMC does to monitor the quality of medical education and training in the UK.

Views you have about your training post will help deaneries, local education and training boards (LETBs), trusts, boards, hospitals, practices, and other training providers, identify areas of good practice and areas that need improvement within their patch.

The results make a difference

Survey results do make a difference to the quality of training posts.

The results are used by deaneries, local education and training boards (LETBs) and other training providers.

They analyse the results carefully and make improvements where required.

The results make a difference

You can find detailed case studies of how survey results have influenced improvements at www.gmc-uk.org/nts including:

The introduction of structured joint training sessions between acute medicine and emergency medicine trainees at a particular hospital, after survey results showed their training was poor.

An emergency medicine department showed poor overall results, which triggered a GMC visit. Improvements included hiring more permanent consultants, better rota arrangements and changes to the departmental induction.

At an intensive care unit, where bullying and undermining had been reported, mandatory leadership training has been introduced for consultants to help improve their approach to giving feedback.

NTS 2014: what the survey told us last year

What the survey told us last year

Last year, 98.2% of doctors in training responded to the survey.

81.8% rated the quality of experience in their current post as good or excellent. Up by 0.1% on 2013.

80.3% of trainees feel their post will be very useful or useful for their future career. Up by 1% on 2013.

86.7% said they always knew their who their clinical supervisor was and that they were easily accessible. Up from 0.8% on 2013.

Bullying and undermining

In 2014, the GMC looked at undermining and published a report on the issue.

8% of respondents reported being victims of bullying and harassment in their training programme.

However, evidence suggests there is a reluctance to speak out about bullying and undermining – both from fear of reprisals and from lack of faith that anything will be done. Only 1% of respondents made a free text comment to us about bullying and undermining

From the GMC’s report: National training survey 2014: Undermining

Bullying and undermining

This year, the GMC are publishing question responses that look at whether training environments are supporting doctors in training:

These will report on supportiveness of environments as a whole, rather than on bullying or undermining incidents

The reporting tool will show environments considered to be particularly supportive as well as unsupportive

We are also publishing a report about our visits to training providers to investigate undermining

Read our report at www.gmc-uk.org/nts.

Patient safety

In 2014, the GMC also published a report on patient safety concerns.

85.0% of doctors in training who indicated a patient safety concern in this year’s survey told us that these concerns were being addressed locally.

A further 5,863 said they did have a concern, but it had been addressed.

However, our data also suggest that in some instances, local systems don’t deal adequately with patient safety issues.

Patient safety

This year we will test new questions on reporting systems. Training environments must have systems for doctors in training to immediately report any concerns they have about patient safety. Our test questions will ask respondents how effective these systems are.

Read the report at www.gmc-uk.org/nts.

Survey content

What the survey asks you

Generic training questions (multi-choice)

General, questions about your training post.

Programme/specialty specific questions (multi-choice)

Questions about your training programme (eg Foundation Programme or Cardiology) including academic questions if you are an academic trainee.

Bullying and undermining (free text)

If you have a concern about bullying and/or undermining, you can report it here.

Patient safety (free text)

If you have a concern about patient safety, you can report it here.

Confidentiality

Confidentiality

Your answers to multi-choice questions on training are confidential.

They will only be reported after being aggregated.

To protect your identity, the GMC only publishes results on its website where three or more trainees have contributed responses.

Confidentiality

Your free text responses are treated differently.

The GMC will share your verbatim comments with your deanery/LETB, who in turn may share them with your employer/training provider.

The GMC, your deanery/LETB, and your employer/training provider all have a duty to ensure any concerns raised are properly responded to, which may include a local investigation.

For more information about this, please read the confidentiality page at www.gmc-uk.org/nts

How to take part

How to take part

Don’t wait for an invitation.

Log on to GMC Online after 24 March 2015.

Your survey will be waiting for you to complete – if it is not there, contact your deanery/LETB survey team.

The GMC and your deanery/LETB will send you reminder emails and text messages during the survey period.

You must complete your survey submission by midday on 6 May 2015.

Who takes part

If you hold a GMC-approved training post, you must complete the survey.

This includes:

Foundation trainees

Core trainees

Higher specialty training, including SpR and GP trainees

FTSTA trainees, LAT trainees

Military trainees

Trainees in Clinical Lecturer and Academic Clinical Fellowship posts

Who takes part (2)

If you hold a GMC-approved training post, you must complete the survey.

This includes:

Out of programme training (OOPT) on an approved programme in the UK

Post-CCT training towards a sub-specialty

Trainees working for non-NHS organisations, e.g. occupational medicine, palliative medicine and pharmaceutical medicine

Non-medical public health trainees*.

*Non medical public health trainees will not access the survey via GMC Online. They will be invited to take part by their faculty.

Not taking part

If you are not in a GMC-approved training post in the UK on 24 March, you should not take the survey.

This includes doctors:

On maternity leave on 24 March

On out of programme training (OOPT) not in an approved programme

On out of programme research (OOPR)

On out of programme career breaks (OOPC)

In medical training initiative (MTI) posts

In locum appointment for service (LAS) posts

Who have been awarded their CCT, but are in their period of grace.

Completion code

Once you have completed the survey, you should take a note of your completion code, which appears on the final screen.

This will be your proof that you’ve completed it.

Any time after the survey, you’ll be able to log back into GMC Online and look up your code in the My Surveys tab.

Key dates

ASAP:

Ensure you have access to your GMC Online account

24 March:

The launch date for the survey

24 March – 6 May:

Log on to GMC Online to take part in the survey

6 May:

Survey closes

Key dates

June:

Online reporting tool launched. This allows for in depth exploration of the results as they relate to specific deaneries / local education and training boards and trusts.

From the autumn:

National key findings report published. This will explore the main findings from the survey, how we have used survey results to make improvements to training and how the survey fits into our work to quality assure training.

Further information

The national training survey is developed and delivered in collaboration with local postgraduate deans and medical royal colleges and faculties.

For additional information please visit the survey website: www.gmc-uk.org/nts.

If you have any comments or queries please contact ntsenquiries@gmc-uk.org.