Quality Management
Welcome to the Quality Management information pages for Health Education England (HEE) South West (SW).
The Quality Team works across the SW to ensure that all learners are provided with a high quality experience within a good learning environment, in accordance with the standards of the HEE Quality Framework and the various Regulators, including the General Medical Council (GMC), regulator for postgraduate medical education; the Health Care and Professions Council (HCPC) for Allied Health Professions; and Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).
Throughout the quality management process HEE works with various bodies including learners and local education providers to ensure that each learner receives the necessary support, guidance and training to aid their personal and professional development.
In particular, we are responsible for:
- Implementing the HEE Quality Framework
- Responding to concerns which could include a variety of interventions including Triggered Visits and Senior Leader Engagement Visits
- Sharing best practice to promote excellence across the region and beyond
- Managing the GMC National Trainee Survey (NTS) for postgraduate medical trainees
- Managing the National Education and Training Survey (NETS) for all learners
- Ensuring that all postgraduate medical training posts and programmes are approved with the GMC
- Overseeing Quality Panels for postgraduate training programmes
- Maintaining a multi-professional Quality Register of education and training concerns requiring improvement
- Reporting to the various Regulators as required
- Contributing to the Care Quality Commission (CQC) processes as required
- Reporting to the local Quality Surveillance Groups (QSG) and working with colleagues in NHS England and Improvement, the CQC and Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) as required
Through our policies and processes we aim to ensure the provision of a highly trained and skilled multi-professional workforce.
What should postgraduate trainees do if they have an immediate concern about their training?
- Immediate patient safety concerns should be reported via your usual Trust reporting system
- Other urgent concerns should be raised with your Clinical Supervisor (CS), Training Programme Director (TPD)/ Foundation Programme Director (FPD), Director of Medical Education (DME) or Education Supervisor (ES)
- Concerns can also be raised through us via EscalatingConcerns.SW@hee.nhs.uk.
Other concerns can be fed back through the annual GMC trainee survey and the Quality Panel process. For further details please see the left hand menu options.
What should undergraduate students do if they have an immediate concern about the quality of their learning environment?
- Immediate patient safety concerns should be reported via the usual Trust and University reporting systems
- Other urgent concerns should be raised through your supervisor and normal University processes
Information and guidance around Quality during the Covid-19 pandemic
Health Education England is stopping all routine education quality activities during the Covid-19 pandemic. Our focus remains on the quality of the clinical learning environment and its impact on the safety of learners and patients.
Our principles, expectations and information on how to raise concerns during this time are set out in the documents below:
HEE statement on stopping quality visits during Covid-19
Escalating concerns process during Covid-19
Quality Principles during Covid-19