Noble’s Hospital impresses UK assessors of on-Island Junior Doctors training

The Island’s Junior Doctors Training scheme has received a clean bill of health from NHS North West’s Mersey Deanery, the body responsible for overseeing Doctor training in the Isle of Man, following the completion of its annual assessment.

The assessment took place on Tuesday 24th January 2012, with two members of the Deanery’s Quality Management team visiting the Island to undertake the review. Dr Vish Kini, Associate Postgraduate Dean and Dr Gupreet Singh, Associate Director Postgraduate GP Education, spent the day speaking to a variety of stakeholders, reviewing developments since the last assessment visit, and inspecting the ‘exceptional’ facilities; including accommodation, the ‘impressive’ library and the Clinical Skills Centre.

The aim of this quality assurance inspection is to ensure that junior doctors in training (Foundation and Specialty Trainees) are receiving support and education during their time at Noble’s Hospital which is appropriate and in compliance with General Medical Council requirements.

Providing on-Island training for junior doctors is vital and this training in tandem with the Department’s overall education programme, which supports continuous professional development, helps to ensure that the Island can attract Doctors of all grades. This is essential in providing the right balance and skill mix of Doctors at Noble’s Hospital to provide day to day care to patients. Hospitals which are not able to provide good educational training to doctors are much more likely to have difficulty attracting quality staff, which impacts on providing medical care to patients.

Minister for Health, David Anderson MHK said: “This is fantastic news for the Department. A considerable amount of work goes into ensuring that our Junior Doctors receive the very best support and education available. We’re very fortunate to have first class facilities at Noble’s Hospital, both in the main complex itself and within the Education and Training Centre, Keyll Darree. I’d like to extend my congratulations to the team at Noble’s Hospital, especially those in Medical Education, led by Director of Medical Education, Dr Adrian Dashfield; and to the team at Keyll Darree and the Department’s Medical Education Manager, Mary Clark.”

The Mersey Deanery Assessor went on to say that the Foundation Doctors ‘unanimously expressed their satisfaction for their educational training’ and ‘had nothing but praise for their educational programme’. The visitors returned to Mersey Deanery ‘with a very positive feeling that this hospital was striving to achieve the best for their trainee’s educational experience’.