Medical Council publishes reports on clinical training site inspections

Another Council report published today found that the South/South West Hospital Group was 3 per cent non-compliant, 63 per cent partially compliant and 34 per cent fully compliant in relation to intern training standards.

The Medical Council published the first reports into two sets of inspections carried out in nine hospitals across the Saolta University Health Care Group and the South/South West Hospital Group as part of its Medical Council’s quality assurance role in medical education and training.

In relation to the specialist training standards, it was found that the Saolta University Health Care Group was 7 per cent non-compliant, 62.5 per cent partially compliant and 30.5 per cent fully compliant; and South/South West Hospital Group was 8 per cent non-compliant, 69 per cent partially compliant and 23 per cent fully compliant.

Similar issues on non-compliance have emerged in both reports across all nine hospitals, especially around the area of protected training time, “which is an area of concern for the Medical Council”.

“Although the nine hospitals visited were, for the most part, found to be at least partially complying with Medical Council standards, numerous similar issues arose across many of the clinical training sites,” said Ms Úna O’Rourke, Director of Education, Training and Professionalism on the publication of the reports.

“These issues, such as allegations of bullying, a lack of respect shown to trainees and lack of protected training time, are widely known and are repeatedly highlighted in other ways, including in the Medical Council’s Your Training Counts survey.

“In saying that, many positives were identified during the inspections, especially the strong commitment and dedication of the Chief and Associate Academic Officers, the commitment of intern coordinators and some trainers, who provide regular feedback and assessment and further personal development supports to trainees,” said Ms O’Rourke.