TRAINEE doctors are largely satisfied with the support and education they receive, according to an annual GMC survey.
Satisfaction is particularly high in general practice and anaesthetics, but some trainees highlighted problems at a local level that have not improved in the past three years.
A total of 53,077 doctors in training responded to the National training survey 2014, a response rate of 98.2 per cent.
Overall satisfaction with training was 81.2 out of 100, a slight rise on last year’s score of 80.8. This follows the pattern of rising satisfaction levels from 2006 to 2013.
The GMC report showed satisfaction increased the longer a doctor had been in training, beginning at 78.4 in foundation trainees and rising to 81.6 in core training/ST3 and 83.7 in those at ST4 and onwards.
Findings showed trainees were generally very satisfied with the quality of clinical supervision, with foundation doctors scoring it 84.9 out of 100, core training/ST3 81.6 and doctors in ST4 onwards scoring it 92.5.
Doctors also appeared to be happy with the level of experience they received – foundation doctors gave a score of 79.7, core training/ST3 81 and ST4 onwards scoring 84.
Handover continued to score lowest with foundation doctors giving a rating of 67.5, core/ST3 68 and ST4 onwards 67.8.
Trends in satisfaction levels over the past three years have been identified for the first time thanks to the survey’s reporting tool which allows a comparison of results. Areas that have received poor scores for three years running will be targeted with improvement measures.
GMC chief executive Niall Dickson said: “This is a good report reflecting the high standard of postgraduate training throughout the UK. But there are some pockets of inadequate practice where we do want to see improvements.
“We have reviewed those with three years of poor results and we are working with the relevant local agencies, including NHS organisations, to make sure action is taken. We will expect to see better results from them in next year's survey.”
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