F2 GP Supervisors Development Day Cornwall 5th February 2020 – Evaluation Report 

Introduction   

The GP development day is an annual half day event hosted by the Peninsula Foundation School for F2 supervisors in General Practice, and delivered in two venues. In 2019 all F2 GP Supervisors were asked if they found the sessions beneficial and what time of the year they would prefer them. The update sessions were not run in 2019 due to the most preferred date being after the consultation. The Cornwall session was held at the St Austell Conference Centre and delivered by Sarah Rawlinson, Head of Peninsula Foundation School and Linda Simpson, Associate Postgraduate GP Dean. The aims of the event were to enable GP supervisors to share experiences, build on their knowledge and skills as educationalists and receive feedback and an update from the Foundation school. 12 GP F2 supervisors from across the Peninsula attended the event. 

Agenda   

  • Update on foundation issues  

  • Informal networking and discussion  

  • Trainees in difficulty – an approach for the F2 in general practice  

  • Lunch with informal networking and discussion  

 Evaluation from supervisors  

After the event, supervisors were asked to complete an evaluation form, 9 (75%) completed forms were returned.  Attendees were asked 5 questions and their responses indicated that, as a result of the event (one delegate did not answer all of these questions):   

  • 100% said they have identified the successes of and challenges to supervision for foundation year doctors. 
  • 100% have developed their ideas on the best practice of supervision, based on the experience of the group. 
  • 100% have identified and developed their competence in one area of supervision. 
  • 89% have identified areas for further development. (1 delegate did not answer this question) 
  • 89% are aware of the current developments affecting the foundation years programme (1 delegate did not answer this question) 

The supervisors were asked to rate particular aspects of the event as “poor”, “average”, “very good” or “excellent”. 

  •  Course content was rated as excellent by 89%, and very good by 11%. 
  •  Course style was rated as excellent by 78% and very good by 22%.
  • Course venue was rated as excellent by 56%, very good by 33% and average by 11%. 

 The supervisors were asked ‘What did you find most beneficial to you?’ and their comments are shown below: 

  • Curriculum, what’s expected. 

  • National training changes/update 

  • Colleagues feedback 

  • Sharing ideas 

  • Changes to foundation training 

  • Dealing with trainees in difficulty 

  • Dr Simpson’s presentation on trainees in difficulty 

  • Talking through sources of support and outcomes to explore for trainees in difficulty 

  • Time to think about what is good and bad and how to address it 

  • Learning who to contact – foundation school contacts 

  • Different trainees 

  • Networking with other F2 supervisors and hearing about future changes 

 The supervisors were asked to comment on how the day could be improved: 

 

  • Would have been good to discuss the portfolio online 

  • Annually please 

  • Have neutral/benchmark assessments would be helpful 

  • Once every 2 years is insufficient 

  • Nothing – just right 

  • Possibly table what delegates concerns and prioritise for time allocation. However time for asking questions was given and adequate 

 

Additional comments 

 

  • Thank you 

  • Thank you – a good morning 

  • Helpful 

  • Really pleased todays course was very helpful and practical (much better than initial F2 supervisor training). Thank you 

  • Poor car parking 

  • Annual is good 

Summary and recommendations  

All of the 9 GP Supervisors who attended the development event and completed the evaluation form rated the course content and style as very good or excellent. Of the supervisors that answered the questions 100% had developed their ideas on the best practice of supervision based on the group and identified the successes of and challenges to supervision for foundation year doctors. 

The evaluation confirms that the supervisors value the opportunity to meet each other, share their experiences, be updated and develop ideas. As the Development day in Cornwall was cancelled in 2018 due to lack of numbers and one was not held in 2019 this was the first one for Cornwall supervisors in 2 years and was very well received by all that attended. It is clear that the supervisors value the opportunity to get together to discuss changes and share ideas between them. 

Ideas for future events 

 

  • Ensure that the event takes place every year and consider a 6 monthly less formal meeting 

  • Foundation School to look at benchmark assessments 

 

The evaluation indicates that this event was an effective way to meet the objectives of the Foundation School and to support the supervisors who are working with F2 doctors in General Practice. It also confirms there is a demand for similar development events in the future. 

  

Natalie Band 

Foundation School Administrator 

February 2020