GMC survey - junior doctor training is good but concerns raised over patient handovers for night duty

Most junior doctors believe their training is good but serious concerns have been raised over the quality of patient handovers for night duty, according to a General Medical Council (GMC) survey.

The GMC has today (16 July) published its annual national survey of trainee doctors who care for millions of patients across the UK.

The survey provides a critical snapshot of the views of more than 51,000 frontline doctors out of 54,000 who were eligible to respond.

The survey - one of the largest of its kind anywhere in the world – provides vital information to those responsible for medical education at local level to help them improve the quality of training in their area.

This year, 95% of trainees in the UK (93% in Northern Ireland, 93% in Scotland and 97% in Wales) responded to the online survey, the highest response rate since the first survey in 2005.

Overall, satisfaction with training is continuing to increase, with 80% of doctors rating their training as excellent or good compared with 78% in 2011, while 74% of trainees rated the practical experience in their post as excellent or good.

Other figures showed that:

• Nearly 99% of trainees said they had a designated supervisor, responsible for reviewing their educational progression and almost 92% had discussed their objectives with them.
• 81% of trainees said they would rate the quality of clinical supervision as excellent or good.
• Almost 87% of trainees said someone explained their role and responsibilities in their unit or department at the start of their post.

But while the doctors reported that most training is meeting the standards set by the GMC, they have identified areas where they believe it is not satisfactory.

For the first time this year junior doctors were asked specifically if they had any concerns about patient safety at the place where they train.

In response, one in 20 said they did have concerns. An initial analysis of those concerns suggests the major issues are in the acute specialties, reflecting the pace and intensity of these services.

The GMC said it was too early to draw firm conclusions and will now analyse the responses in detail, but the fact that so many raised a concern suggests that there may be significant challenges across the UK.

In collaboration with the postgraduate deaneries who oversee local training, the GMC will investigate every concern raised, alert the NHS where there appears to be a substantive issue and learn any lessons.

The doctors also raised concerns about the quality of handover with colleagues before and after night duty with about one in four describing them as either informal or not in place.

Around one in three doctors also described the induction to the organisation in which they worked and the information they received about their roles, responsibilities and objectives as fair, poor or very poor.

And around one in seven said they felt forced to cope with clinical problems beyond their competence or experience while nearly one in three reported they rarely or never had informal feedback from a senior clinician on how they were doing in their post.

The GMC will work with senior doctors, managers and medical educators to bring about improvement and change.

Niall Dickson, Chief Executive of the General Medical Council, today said: ‘Trainee doctors are delivering much of the frontline care to NHS patients. Making sure they are properly supported and supervised is vital for patient safety as well as for effective training.

‘These findings tell us that while overall satisfaction with their training is increasing, these doctors have a number of concerns. The issues they raise must be urgently addressed.

‘We need to study the results in more detail but the early signs are that we are continuing to see pressure on doctors in key specialties, and this cannot be good for them or their patients.

‘We will do all we can to work closely with those at local level who have the responsibility for managing and delivering training for these doctors to address these issues.’

Read the key findings from the survey visit here.