Visiting Systems
There are three types of visits undertaken as part of the quality assurance of surgical training: GMC visits; Deanery / School of Surgery visits; and SAC visits to the Republic of Ireland.
GMC Visits
The GMC runs a regular schedule of visits to the Deaneries and aims to visit each Deanery every five years. The purpose of the visits is to investigate and assess, against defined standards and requirements, the quality management processes used by the Deaneries to ensure the effective delivery of surgical training. If a Deanery visit highlights serious training issues, the GMC has the ability to trigger a focused visit to the relevant hospital trust.
Deanery / School of Surgery visits
The Deaneries undertake visits to LEPs as part of their quality management mechanisms to ensure the standard of surgical training. These visits can either be part of a planned visiting programme or can be triggered by specific concerns. The visits aim to determine whether the delivery of training meets the required standards and meets the requirements of the relevant curriculum. In addition, the visits highlight any areas for improvement, agree the timetable for any appropriate action and identify areas of notable practice. Specialty Advisory Committee (SAC) Liaison Members may be involved in the visits to provide both specialty-specific input and externality.
SAC visits to the Republic of Ireland
As the Republic of Ireland is not within the geographical remit of the GMC, the SACs participate in a system of visits to its training programmes. The aim is for each programme to be visited every five years, with the opportunity for more frequent visits if serious problems are identified. The visits often take the form of a regional visit whereby a number of hospitals within a training programme are visited over a period of several days.
Page last updated: 17 December 2010
