Supporting the General Medical Council to produce 'The State of Medical Education and Practice' report

The General Medical Council (GMC) wanted to produce a report that contributed to a better understanding of the challenges facing the medical profession and the role doctors play in promoting high quality healthcare. Sharing more widely some of the data that the GMC holds in the report was also seen as a key step in enabling the GMC to realise its ambition of becoming a more proactive regulator.

Given PA’s Healthcare knowledge and expertise in managing and producing similar reports, (such as the Temple review, Time for Training on behalf of Medical Education England, Maternity Matters for the Department of Health and the report recently published by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, High Quality Women’s Healthcare) the GMC asked PA to work in partnership with them on the development and project management of the report,

A joint PA and GMC team was created to conduct analysis, scrutinise data and produce a report. Prior to publication, PA helped manage the review of the report with over 30 senior stakeholders, including members of the GMC’s Council and Senior Management Team, PA also assisted with the development of launch materials to support the report’s publication and promotion.

The publication of the report has significantly helped the GMC on its path of being a more proactive regulator. It has started an ongoing process of using and analysing GMC data to stimulate debate about how the GMC and its partners should work to make sure the profession can be even more effective, and what needs to be done to achieve that.

Key to our approach has been to work in partnership with the GMC to develop their capacity in producing such high quality reports. Going forward this will help the GMC to put in place processes for the development of next year’s State of Medical Education and Practice report (establishing the report as an annual publication).
 
Summary of the Report

The State of Medical Education and Practice reveals a medical profession that is changing rapidly. There is an increasing number of female doctors, and women will make up the majority of doctors working in the NHS between 2017 and 2022. The average age of doctors is falling - commonly doctors are in their early 30s. More than a third of registered doctors qualified overseas, and the make up of the UK medical profession is ethnically diverse, compared with the UK’s general population. The report also reveals an unacceptable variation in the standards of medical practice, and in patients’ experiences of medical care. In response to the challenges it outlines, the report sets out six areas for further debate and action. These include: developing more effective induction systems for doctors new to working in the NHS; more joined up working between healthcare professional and system regulators, and equipping doctors to deal with the changing health care needs of the population. 

For further information on how PA can help your organisation produce high quality reports please contact us now.