NHS Forth Valley has been named as one of the top places to be in the UK for trainee doctors. This comes following the results of a national trainee survey conducted by the General Medical Council (GMC).

The survey is anonymously submitted by trainee doctors to rate training posts across the whole of Britain and is produced every year to highlight the trainee doctors’ perception of the quality of their training. NHS Forth Valley features in the ‘top ten’ in seven categories, taking first place in the UK for ‘Induction for new Foundation doctors’ and second place for ‘Educational Supervision’.

Foundation Year doctors Peggy Chua and Tom Aitken explained why they rated their experience of training so highly at Forth Valley Royal Hospital.

Tom said: “Part of the reason why I wanted to come to NHS Forth Valley is down to recommendations from friends. Everyone I’ve worked with has been supportive and approachable. We get weekly teaching sessions that are never cancelled. They are always informative and give you an option to provide your own feedback.”

Peggy added: “We get a good deal here with a lot of support. The teaching sessions are great as they are protected. This means we get our pagers taken off us to allow us to focus without interruption.”

Dr David McQueen, Director of Medical Education for NHS Forth Valley said; “A large number of staff have contributed to this success, which helps to demonstrate that quality training can be maintained within a busy service. These include the Medical Education Administrators, Foundation Programme Directors, all consultants who are clinical and educational supervisors throughout NHS Forth Valley (including in primary care), and our Medical Director, Associate Directors and General Managers.

“Many other staff from across NHS Forth Valley, including nurses, resuscitation and skills trainers and colleagues from human resources, have provided valuable assistance with running the Foundation Programmes. By helping to train and guide our Foundation doctors they have greatly contributed to this success. It is gratifying that recent training was so well thought of, and I hope that these standards can be maintained in the future.”