Health Education England (HEE), the regulator for medical education in England, has confirmed that improvements to medical education at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn mean the Trust has been downgraded on the regulators’ risk register and will now only be monitored on a business-as-usual basis.
Previously, the General Medical Council GMC had placed three conditions on the provision of medical education and training at the QEH which were lifted December 2020.
However, QEH remained on enhanced monitoring by Health Education England during this time, while the Trust worked to improve the provision of training in obstetrics and gynaecology, and general and acute medical specialties. Then in December 2021, Trust was removed from enhanced monitoring by HEE, and now, HEE has confirmed that due to the excellent progress and sustained improvements made, the Trust has been downgraded on the HEE risk register and will only be monitored on a “business-as-usual” basis, in line with other NHS trusts.
In its letter to QEH, confirming the good news, Professor Bill Irish, regional post graduate dean said: “It is a real pleasure to see QEH re-establishing itself as one of the strongest educational trusts for medical education in the East of England.”
Caroline Shaw CBE, Chief Executive at the Trust said: “I am delighted that the Trust’s hard work to improve medical education has been recognised by HEE. These improvements mean our junior doctors can be confident that they have access to the highest quality training and education here at QEH.”
Dr Frankie Swords, Medical Director at the Trust said: “Improving medical education at the Trust has been one of our top priorities. This is brilliant news for our education team, for our staff and for our patients, as we know that providing excellent training for the students and junior doctors of today, produces excellent senior doctors of tomorrow.
“We are determined to continue our improvements to make our Trust a centre of excellence for medical education.”
–ENDS–
For more information, please contact communicationsQEH@qehkl.nhs.uk or call 01553 613216.
To download the press release, click here.
QEH Media Hub 