Published 20/03/2026

The 2026 General Medial Council (GMC) National Training Surveys open on 24 March 2026. The survey will be open for six weeks and will close on 6 May 2026. 

The principle aim is to measure the perception of the quality of training received. Around 100,000 resident doctors in training and trainers are being asked to participate in the 2026 GMC National Training Surveys. This is held every year and it is the largest annual insight into workplace education and training.

The surveys include questions on numerous areas including the quality of training; workloads and burnout; time available to deliver or receive training; access to break rooms and study spaces and workplace culture.

The GMC will use the results in its work with Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW) to ensure good quality of training for resident doctors and to enhance support for trainers.  This means it is vital to receive responses from a wide range of specialties and regions across Wales.

HEIW urges all resident doctors and trainers to participate, information can be found on HEIW’s website. The GMC website also offers further detailed information.

How will resident doctors be contacted? 

Resident doctors will need to log in to the GMC Online account. 

The trainee survey can be accessed by accessing the ‘My Surveys’ tab. The first page of the survey form will be pre-populated with the resident doctors post details and trainees will only need to confirm if they are correct or amend if necessary. 

Trainers can also access the survey through their GMC Online account. If this hasn’t been used before, an account will need to be activated.

Who is the survey relevant for? 

The survey is relevant to Foundation, Core and Specialty residents in training, including GP. The only exceptions to this are:

• Resident doctors who have been awarded their CCT but are awaiting a consultant post,
• Dentists and non-medical public health resident doctors who are not in training posts e.g. locum appointment for service (LAS) and trust grade doctors,
• Medical Training Initiative (MTI) resident doctors.
• Resident doctors who will not be surveyed but for whom information will be collected about are those who are on maternity or paternity leave as at  26 March 2026 , or are out of programme (OOPT) outside of the UK, out of programme research (OOPR), out of programme clinical experience (OOPE), or out of programme career break.

The survey is also relevant for the following groups who have been actively supervising residents in the last year:

• Educational Supervisors: In secondary care
• GP Trainers
• Named Clinical Supervisors: Those Clinical Supervisors who oversee a resident doctor in training’s work throughout the post and are involved in progress decisions

If you haven’t been active in the last year please let us know at HEIW.trainersurvey@wales.nhs.uk and we can arrange for you to be excluded. This will not impact your status as a registered trainer.

When will the results be available? 

The GMC has advised that the results will be publicly available in summer 2026 (final date TBC). HEIW will circulate further information regarding the results as it becomes available. 

Your views 

If you have any suggestions on improving the response rate or have any other queries about the survey, please do not hesitate to contact the HEIW Quality Unit. This is a rare opportunity to influence training by giving the GMC your views on the standard of medical education and training within Wales. All responses will be treated as confidential and reported anonymously. 
 

More Information 

If you would like to find out more information on the forthcoming survey please contact: 

• Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW): Quality Unit 
• GMC: National training survey enquiries