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How to become an accredited Clinical or Educational Supervisor?

It is mandatory for all named educational supervisors (ES) and named clinical supervisors (CS), supervising a trainee to be recognised and approved by the GMC. This document sets out the process of achieving and maintaining the accreditation as a supervisor. Please ensure that you are familiar with Clinical and Educational Supervision page in the Faculty of Occupational Medicine website which provides detailed information about the framework for recognition based on the seven domains as suggested by the Academy of Medical Educators and endorsed by the GMC.

 

Process of the accreditation

National School of Occupational Health (NSOH) is responsible for the quality assurance of the training in Occupational Health. As part of the quality assurance process, NSOH will ensure that all named ES and CS are recognised by the GMC as a trainer. NSOH will provide guidance and support to people wish to become ES and those who are an established ES and CS to meet the criteria to be recognised and to maintain their status as an accredited trainer by the GMC.

 

Eligibility

Ideally you should have completed at least one year as an accredited specialist to become a clinical supervisor. You should have completed two years as a clinical supervisor to become an educational supervisor.

NSOH may consider shorter experience in exceptional circumstances e.g. previous supervisory roles, qualifications in PG medical training and availability of support.

NHS based trainers

If you are an NHS based trainer, the Post Graduate Medical Education team of your employing Trust should facilitate the accreditation including providing your name to the regional HEE office who in turn will notify the GMC to update your status.

Non-NHS based trainer

If you are a trainer outside the NHS, the NSOH will assist you to gain recognition as a trainer centrally and you do not need to contact your regional HEE office individually. The process of accreditation is as follow;

  • Read Clinical and Educational Supervision page in FOM

  • Map your training or other evidence to prove you have achieved a certain competency by completing the table under number 4 of the FOM page.
  • To be accredited as ES you need all 7 domains but for CS you only need 5 domains (numbers 1,2,3,4 and 7).
  • Forward completed table which maps your evidence against the domain (see above) alongside the evidence e.g. certificate of attendance to your local Training Programme Director [link to the list].
  • The regional Training Programme Director (TPD) may ask you to provide more evidence or amend the table. When they are satisfied, the TPD will forward your paperwork along the details of the Local Education Provider (the company whose trainees you supervise) to the NSOH for final approval.
  • Once approved by the Head of the School, the HEE London Quality team will notify the GMC to update your status.
  • NSOH will confirm the accreditation when it is completed to the TPD and you.

Training to become a trainer

It is your responsibility to identify suitable courses that meet the GMC criteria to become a recognised trainer. The NSOH recommends the following

In order to have access to the eLfH you need to register which you can if you have any of these emails;

If you don’t have an email account with one of the above domains, please email the NSOH who will organise your access directly with the eLfH registration team.

The benefit of eLfH is it is online and you can do it anytime, anywhere. It is already mapped against the GMC domains. It is free.

  • The Royal College of Physician holds a two day workshops.

Please note that these are only our recommendations and not an exhaustive list. You can identify and choose the course you wish to attend but you need to make sure it provides the necessary content to meet all the domains appropriate to your proposed level of training e.g. educational supervisor or clinical supervisor in accordance with the GMC requirement.

 

Maintain your status

Once you are accredited, you need to maintain your status and re-accredit every 5 years. However it does not mean that you have to do the full training every 5 years. You only need to demonstrate how you maintained your competencies. The only mandatory component to be repeated every 3 year is Equality and Diversity training.

  1. Every 5 year Revalidation cycle you must attend relevant training courses, master-classes or education conferences and reflect on this within your appraisal. This should be a minimum of 25 hours of CPD of high quality training every 5 years.
  2. The expectation is that you do a minimum of 5 CPD hours every year. This might include further e-learning rather than face to face learning. Examples of high quality training include-:
    • National ARCP panel membership- usually 1 CPD point per ½ day or 2 CPD points per full day
    • National recruitment panel membership- usually 1 CPD point per ½ day or 2 CPD points per full day
    • FOM Exam attendance as per FOM guidance on CPD points allocated e.g. diploma exams. part 2 MFOM ( clinical or written component), recognised dissertation supervision, lecturing at speciality courses ( Birmingham or Manchester)
    • Preparation of complete Educational supervisor report- usually 1 CPD points
    • Delivery and preparation of a trainee group tutorial face-to-face or webinar delivery locally, regionally or nationally- usually 1 CPD point per event
    • NSOH will attempt to run refresher courses on an annual basis-which will be advertised to all trainers on their list.
    • Local NHS trusts and regional HEE offices will run refresher training courses throughout the year. You should try to attend these where possible. Examples include how to be a member of an ARCP panel, return to training ( RTT) policies as part of HEE guidelines, supporting doctors with difficulties, having courageous conversations with trainees et cetera.
    • These are usually advertised to regional OM TPD’s and within trusts. If you are not an NHS Trainer you may wish to communicate with your regional OM TPD or local NHS trainers to be part of the email distribution list. The other option is to contact the Director of Medical Education in your local NHS trust to see what ongoing training they offer as refresher courses for active trainers. They are usually happy for non-NHS trainer to participate but if you need any support you can contact the local TPD or NSOH.
  3. For training outside of these guidelines to be approved for educational CPD, you may wish to email details of the training to the NSOH with reflections of value, so that the training can be externally approved and you can continue to be accredited as an Educational supervisor within the speciality. Over time NSOH will develop a list of formally approved courses with allocated CPD allowances, and publish this list.
  4. Your annual appraisal and PDP must reflect your role as an Educational Supervisor, and you must demonstrate how you are continuing to develop and remain up to date as an educational supervisor. Your PDP should consider evidence of GMC domains 1-7. These should be signed off by your appraiser and responsible officer on an annual basis.
  5. Equality and diversity training – THIS MUST BE COMPLETED EVERY 3 YEARS. There are several courses available either by employer or online. If you have trouble identifying a course please liaise with your local TPD or contact NSOH.

You must maintain your status as supervisor as described above. If you do not, you may lose your accreditation which can severely jeopardise the training delivered to OM trainees e.g. not recognising the time spent in training if the trainer is not accredited.  

For any further details, please contact NSOH nationalschoolocchealth@hee.nhs.uk 

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