Regulating doctors, ensuring good medical practice

Recognition and approval of trainers

Following consultation, GMC Council has agreed a phased process for implementing new arrangements for recognising trainers. Local systems will be in place by 31 July 2013 and all trainers in four specific roles will be fully recognised by 31 July 2016.

See the full Implementation Plan (pdf) for more detail.

Scope: the roles covered

The arrangements relate to:

  1. a. named educational supervisors in postgraduate training
  2. b. named clinical supervisors in postgraduate training
  3. c. lead coordinators of undergraduate training at each local education provider
  4. d. doctors responsible for overseeing students’ educational progress for each medical school.

Recognition will not be necessary for other doctors whose practice contributes to the teaching, training or supervision of students or trainee doctors. But recognition will be available to trainers not currently in the four specific roles.

Process

Recognition and approval of trainers

Recognition and approval of trainers flowchart

Standards and areas

We will use our existing standards for postgraduate training set out in The Trainee Doctor (pdf) and for undergraduate education in Tomorrow’s Doctors.

We will use seven areas originally set out by the Academy of Medical Educators to provide a structure:

  1. a. ensuring safe and effective patient care through training
  2. b. establishing and maintaining an environment for learning
  3. c. teaching and facilitating learning
  4. d. enhancing learning through assessment
  5. e. supporting and monitoring educational progress
  6. f. guiding personal and professional development
  7. g. continuing professional development as an educator.

Responsibilities

Local education providers such as hospitals and general practices will use the seven areas to show how they identify, train and appraise trainers in each of the four categories above. ‘Education organisers’ (EOs), ie postgraduate deans and medical schools, will then use that information to show us what local arrangements are in place to meet our standards.

We already approve GP trainers and our proposals build on these arrangements. We need new legal powers to be able to approve other trainers. In the meantime, more formal arrangements for recognising trainers will help to make sure that local education providers, postgraduate deans and medical schools are meeting our standards for the seven areas.

Particularly at a time of resource constraint, we aim to protect and enhance the status of training. The new arrangements support that aim by providing a structure that will add value while involving minimal additional effort or resource for our partners.

Milestones

We have identified the following milestones for the education organisers.

  1. a. To submit to us a timeline for implementation for trainer recognition - by 31 December 2012. We will shortly publish more detail about this.
  2. b. To confirm that criteria and systems are in place and ready for data entry – by 31 July 2013.
  3. c. To confirm that full information has been entered for all trainers in the four roles in light of the EO criteria and that the trainers have all been categorised as provisionally or fully recognised – by 31 July 2014.
  4. d. To confirm that all trainers in the four roles, or entering any of the four roles, are fully recognised ie have met the EO criteria, without use of interim concessions – by 31 July 2016.

Consultation

Our consultation on the proposed process ran from 6 January to 30 March 2012. The outcome of the consultation (pdf) was reported to GMC Council in July 2012.

Consultation respondents broadly welcomed our proposals with some areas of concern which we have addressed in the Implementation Plan (pdf).

  • Some respondents felt that more trainers should be covered by the recognition arrangements, so we have emphasised that recognition is not restricted to trainers currently in the four roles as long as they satisfy the EOs’ requirements.
  • Some respondents said that trainers need time to train effectively, so we have stressed that job planning needs to reflect the importance of training.
  • Some respondents said the timescale was ambitious in the context of other changes in health care and medical training, so we have agreed the phased approach to implementation.

Key links

If you would like any further information, please contact quality@gmc-uk.org.