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The all-Wales medical trainer agreement

Two man handshaking

Following the successful implementation of the Educational Supervision Agreement (ESA) in 2013 and the Named Clinical Supervision Agreement (NCSA) pilot in 2016, Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW), Cardiff University School of Medicine and Swansea University Medical School collaboratively developed a Medical Trainer Agreement (Secondary Care and Undergraduate Education) for Wales, incorporating all four trainer roles subject to recognition by the General Medical Council (GMC).

The agreement was rolled out across Wales in November 2018. Incorporating all four roles into one agreement provides a more streamlined and consistent approach to managing Trainer Recognition and supporting secondary care and undergraduate trainers in Wales and enables individuals to move ‘fluidly’ between the training roles.

The agreement is between a recognised trainer, a Local Education Provider (LEP), and an Education Organiser (in Wales the Education Organisers are HEIW and/or Cardiff or Swansea University Medical Schools) and is the mechanism by which the Education Organisers in Wales identify and recommend individuals for formal recognition as trainers by the GMC.

The agreement is a key element of the Wales approach to formal trainer recognition (as defined by the General Medical Council). It demonstrates the signatories’ commitment to the trainer role and the provision of high quality medical education and training and identifies the mechanisms to support this by defining the roles and responsibilities of each party.

Signing this agreement and meeting its requirements confers recognition as a trainer in Wales for those doctors who hold one or more of the four trainer roles.

Please view a copy of the all-Wales medical trainer agreement (PDF, 608Kb). Please note that this version is for information only and should not be signed. Signing up to the Agreement must be done via the Trainer Agreement Gateway (TAG) system.

Trainers in Wales undertaking one or more of the trainer roles requiring recognition by the GMC via the trainer recognition process are required to sign the agreement. This includes undergraduate trainers and postgraduate medical trainers for foundation, core and higher trainees (including less than full time training). For further information on how to sign up, please see how to become a trainer.

The agreement is not generally applicable to trainers in general or dental practice. However, the exception is those general practitioners who act as trainers in the context of training in secondary care environments or for undergraduate medical students (and are not already subject to separate approval as ‘GP Trainer’ by the GMC under the Medical Act). These individuals will be required to sign up to the agreement.

Find out more on the benefits of the agreement.