Top of the class - GP training charter mark awarded to Epsom and St Helier
A number of departments at Epsom and St Helier hospitals have been recognised for educational excellence in providing training for GPs of the future.
Training posts in emergency medicine, palliative care, public health and orthogeriatrics (the care of elderly orthopaedic inpatients, most commonly following a fractured hip) have all been awarded the new prestigious charter mark for GP training by Health Education England’s GP School, demonstrating an excellent level of support to the trainee GPs studying at the hospitals.
Dr James Marsh, Joint Medical Director, said: “As a university hospital, we are absolutely committed to providing fantastic training and development opportunities to the healthcare professionals of the future. Health Education England’s charter mark for GP training recognises excellence in a training programme and in order to be awarded it, we have to evidence that trainees are getting good support, good training, access to clinics and teaching, and give excellent feedback on their experience. This is a new process which has been in development for over a year and it has required sustained and consistent excellence from our teams.
“During a recent assessment, our teams in our orthogeriatric care, emergency medicine, public health and palliative care departments met the stringent criteria set out by Health Education England in order to achieve a ‘recommended’ status. The award follows a formal assessment made by the GP School, which looks at the evidence provided by us and also involves meeting with trainees face-to-face. There were also other departments within our Trust which came very close to receiving the charter mark, and as the GP school will be returning to us in autumn for another assessment, we will be focusing our efforts to attempt to secure this prestigious award in even more of our departments in the very near future.
“This is a landmark event for GP education at our Trust and I am very pleased to see that all of the hard work and dedication of our medical education team has paid off. I would like to say a massive thank you to all of our staff who were integral to us securing this award, including the trainee GPs and look forward to welcoming Health Education England back to our hospitals for another assessment in autumn.”
