Kim Tolley, the GMC’s Regional Liaison Adviser for South London, explains how our workshops can help doctors who are new to practising medicine in the UK get to grips with our ethical standards.
If you are a doctor who’s new to working in the UK or you’re just starting out in your career I’d like to tell you about our free half-day workshop called Welcome to UK Practice.
My colleagues and I run the workshops across the UK as part of our Liaison Services. The course will help you find out more about the GMC, including the standards that all doctors in the UK need to follow.
You’ll learn from real life experiences of other doctors and work through interactive scenarios on ethical issues that will affect you and your patients on a day-to-day basis. We also give everyone who attends a copy of all the key GMC guidance, a learning log to capture tips and reflections in, and a certificate of attendance.
It’s a perfect opportunity to ask us about anything that’s been concerning you about working in the UK. You’ll meet other doctors who are also new to practice here so you can build your network of colleagues in this country.
Why did we create Welcome to UK Practice?
Through our work with doctors from all backgrounds, we understand the challenges doctors can face as they move into UK practice. We wanted to make sure we were helping doctors to overcome these by supporting their learning. We’ve worked with employers and educators to create and develop Welcome to UK Practice to meet this need.
How has the programme developed?
Following the success and detailed evaluation of a series of pilots, the course was rolled out across the UK. Over the last five years we’ve refined the course and we now cover a range of topics that we know are useful to doctors new to UK practice such as confidentiality, consent, raising concerns and prescribing.
My colleague Ian McNeill, Head of the Regional Liaison Service, who was involved in the development of the course, said: ‘Delivering Welcome to UK Practice is both fun and rewarding as the impact on the doctors attending is always incredibly positive. It is really great to see doctors gain confidence and start to build new networks with other attendees.
‘The doctors are always very grateful for the opportunity to attend and have told us that it has helped them immensely. Some have even told me it’s the best training they have ever had, which speaks volumes about the impact this workshop can have.’
Over 1,700 doctors took part in the workshop last year (2017) and feedback has been universally positive. From those we evaluated:
- 96% of doctors said they would recommend the workshop to a colleague
- 87% said they would change their practice as a result of attending the workshop.
What do doctors say about Welcome to UK practice?
‘There were a lot of new things I learnt today … After attending this session I believe my practice can improve.’
‘I got to know so many aspects of medicine in UK which I did not know. And knowing that I can seek advice from GMC makes me feel safe working in UK.’
‘Many things I was concerned about I can now be confident about.’
How to book your place
We hold sessions every month across the UK. Events are very popular and places go quickly. For more information about the workshop, and to book your place, go to www.gmc-uk.org/welcomeUK.
Improving medical education and practice across the UK 