Kate Green – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2016-05-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that training in the diagnosis and treatment of ME forms part of medical students’ training.

Ben Gummer

It is the responsibility of the professional regulators, such as the General Medical Council (GMC), to set the standards and outcomes for education and training and approve training curricula to ensure newly qualified healthcare professionals are equipped with the knowledge, skills and attitudes to provide high quality patient care.

Higher Education Institutions are responsible for ensuring the programmes they provide allow healthcare students to meet the outcomes set out by the regulators upon graduation.

The royal colleges, for example the Royal College of Nursing, the Royal College of General Practitioners and the Royal College of Surgeons, also have responsibility for developing curricula for doctors and nurses, in particular postgraduate curricula.

Health Education England works with bodies that set curricula such as the GMC and the royal colleges to seek to ensure training meets the needs of patients.