We all have active clinical roles, mainly in hospitals, including St George’s and other associated NHS trusts, across a range of disciplines including medical and surgical specialities, psychiatry and anaesthetics.
We also contribute to a range of undergraduate and postgraduate courses for medical and allied healthcare professionals locally, as well as at other UK centres and internationally, and link with clinical teachers in the hospitals supporting our programs. Research interests are also broad ranging, in our own specialist clinical areas as well as in education.
You will see that whatever your speciality, if you are passionate about delivering high quality education for our future medical workforce, there could be a role for you. As well as expertise in educational areas such as e-learning, assessment and medical education globally, you will see clinical teachers who are also research active in field such as epilepsy, orthopaedics, patient experience, metabolic medicine, clinical pharmacology and more.
We work alongside a large body of NHS clinicians in partner trusts and primary care, as well other partner providers in a wider healthcare community, helping support our student’s learning experience whilst on their clinical placements, as well as delivering assessments and examinations. Contributing to teaching and training doctors and students is a fundamental part of being a doctor, only a tiny minority of whom have core university roles. We have established relationships with educational leads at all our partner hospitals, and support those active in education throughout or network, including through our clinical teachers’ day and honorary academic contract processes.
Clinical placement partner agreements
The delivery and quality assurance of clinical placements provided by our primary and secondary care partners is governed by the NHS Education Funding Agreement 2024-27.
We also work with a wide range of professions in the community, including hospices, nurseries, refugee support services, voluntary organisations and other partners delivering teaching to our medical students. We know that health behaviours and attitudes, cultural beliefs, and socio-economic factors are significant determinants of health outcomes in individuals and communities. Effective health interventions require a partnership with patients and communities that takes account of these components. Our curriculum is specifically designed to offer multiple opportunities for students to develop a firm understanding of the patient journey and to explore the patient’s perspective and learn to take proper account of their social and cultural background. Developing skills and attitudes that take proper account of the social and cultural background of the patient and the human experience of illness is actively encouraged by embedding diversity throughout the curriculum.
Any teaching offered by private, independent and voluntary organisations (PIVO) is governed by our Standard Terms and Conditions Agreement.
Establishing standards and quality in clinical teaching
MBBS Quality Team: The MBBS Quality Team are responsible for monitoring the quality of the MBBS programme delivery in line with the standards and requirements outlined by external regulatory bodies (e.g. General Medical Council, NHS England) and by internal executive groups and reporting structures. The team are led by an academic MBBS Quality Lead but work closely with the MBBS senior leadership team, the wider academic faculty, the programme administration team and externally, with clinical education providers from a wide geographical spread of teaching trusts, general practices and other independent/voluntary organisations.
Accountability: As part of its statutory duty, the General Medical Council (GMC) sets standards for assuring the quality of education and training. A series of quality monitoring processes and activities allow the GMC to regularly check that those standards are being met. Under the provisions of the service level agreement with NHS England, as a medical school, we are required to “monitor the delivery of education at Health Service Bodies using appropriate and robust quality assurance mechanisms compliant with General Medical Council and standards of other regulatory bodies as appropriate”. Internally, our Quality and Partnerships Directorate (QPD) has an institution-wide responsibility for operational excellence and oversight of educational quality across all programmes delivered by the university. Whilst the monitoring of programme delivery is the responsibility of the programme itself, the QPD is responsible for ensuring programme level quality processes are in place, and working effectively, and that programmes are compliant with any regulatory requirements, including those set out by professional, statutory and regulatory bodies. The St. George’s QPD remit and responsibilities are set out in full in its Quality Manual, which can be accessed from the St. George's Quality and Partnerships Directorate webpage.
MBBS Programme Team: The MBBS Course Director has overall responsibility for the delivery of the MBBS programme, with support from across the faculty, and more specifically, from appointed leads for individual years, modules and specialties. There is an identified academic and administrative lead for each clinical attachment who manage the content, delivery and improvement of their attachment. Specialty academic leads are responsible for determining clinical placement standards for their specialty, maintaining good working relationships with their specialty colleagues at partner trusts and reviewing all student end of placement/teaching block feedback for their specialty attachment to ensure quality is maintained across all clinical placement sites. Year leads have responsibility and oversight of the year as a whole and work closely with specialty academic and assessment leads to maintain the quality of clinical teaching and the student experience through all available channels.
MBBS Quality Standards for Clinical Placements: The MBBS Quality Standards for Clinical Placements outline the standards of clinical teaching expected of our teaching partners, affiliated hospital trusts and general practices. We aim to foster high standards and excellence in clinical teaching for all our students. The document details the essential core requirements to be delivered on each placement and which can be monitored as part of a robust quality assurance process. In addition, the MBBS Quality Standards for Clinical Placements outlines Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that are monitored closely through student end of placement feedback. The MBBS Quality Standards for Clinical Placements are reviewed biennially or upon major changes to the curriculum.
Many doctors in medical practice are actively involved in education. Those involved in teaching and management of student activities and progression at St George's, can consider applying for an honorary contract with the university. Typically for consultants who meet the criteria, we offer an Honorary Senior Lecturer (HSL) contract. This is only suitable for staff on substantive contracts with their employers, and a reasonable contribution to St George's activities is a requirement, reflecting that there are associated staff resource costs involved for the university in awarding these, as well as implications for e.g. software licenses, training etc.
Why get involved
First and foremost, being actively involved in medical undergraduate education is hugely stimulating and rewarding. Students value clinical mentors, and many of you will remember individuals who inspired you as a student, sometimes influencing your career choices. Students are your future colleagues, and often bring enthusiasm and fresh ideas which can benefit service development and clinical practice. There are lots of different ways of getting involved. Any activities associated with St George's can be reflected in your NHS appraisal and as part of your CPD. They also are recognised as contributing toward clinical excellence awards. If you are interested in academic promotion, engagement with university education is a key component.
How to get involved
Supporting students on their clinical placements is part of the role of any doctor at a university affiliated hospital, for which NHS providers receive income from NHS England. We therefore expect all clinicians at our partner trusts to be involved with it to a greater or lesser extent. Below are some examples of further valuable experiences and opportunities:
- Personal Tutoring – Usually 3-4 hours per student per year. Tutors are encouraged to take on at least 3 tutees, and retain them for the duration of their time on the programme. This allows the tutor and the tutee to build a meaningful relationship, provide pastoral support and signposting, if needed for other matters, until graduation. In addition to a comprehensive tutor handbook with resources, considerable support is available from a pool of experienced 'super tutors' if a tutee has significant problems. Contact: MBBS Personal Tutor Admin Team.
- Student Selected Components (SSCs) – These are special interest study modules selected and organised by students themselves. NHS staff interested in supervising MBBS students can offer a range of projects from literature reviews in the early years (SSC1), to QIP/Data analysis in the 1st clinical practice year (SSCT), and clinical experience in the final year (SSCFY1 and 2). Students may choose a defined block of time (3-5 weeks), or do this as a longitudinal project alongside their studies. This can often be a 'win-win' for clinical teachers, resulting in completion of literature reviews, audit or other projects as well as gaining teaching hours for the supervision involved (usually around 12 hours per student – this could include group sessions and time for reviewing the first draft of their output poster or written submission). Contact: Corinne Cohen.
- CCA Examiners – Exams are held throughout the year for MBBS and Physician Associate programmes, with each session lasting half a day. Specific training is needed. Look out for 'calls for assessors' circulated by email. Contact: Sasha Polishchuk.
- Multiple Mini Interviews – These run a bit like a CCA exam. All eligible applicants for MBBS and PA programmes at St George's who have met the academic criteria are invited for an MMI. This is a unique opportunity to influence the selection of your future colleagues. Each session usually lasts half a day and training is provided in advance. Contact: MMI Team.
- Research supervision – Many of the St George's undergraduate BSc programmes (e.g. Clinical Pharmacology, Biomedical Science) and a broad range of postgraduate Masters programmes include a research project. This is a bigger time commitment (typically 65 hours or more over a period of a few months), and although it can help clinical teachers to deliver on projects or personal interest that might otherwise be impossible, it needs careful consideration. Calls for proposals are circulated at least annually to research active and existing academic staff, so if this is something you are interested in developing, liaise with colleagues within your department(s) or areas of interest.
- Leadership roles – Typically these specific roles are filled after advertisement and interview. Those with associated funding will always be advertised externally on the St George's jobs site, so if you are interested in 1-2 additional programmed activities, sign up to the alert service on the website. Other opportunities are advertised internally for people with existing job-planned teaching hours (unfunded) interested in taking on a new role, or for clinicians already employed by a partner NHS provider with up to 1PA of funding (which is cross charged). Examples include module/placement/year leads; chief or responsible examiner roles; student support roles; broader theme or strategic leadership.
How to apply for an honorary academic contract
Award of the position of an honorary contract, usually as Honorary Senior Lecturer in the first instance, reflects your significant input to education at St George's. 168 hours of St George's activity per annum are required for the appointment to HSL. Our guide to teaching diary activities will help you calculate your teaching hours and other relevant educational activities. The application can be submitted at any point during the year and, if successful, the appointment is for 3 years in most cases. If your trust contract is time limited then the university contract can only be awarded in line with the trust contract dates. Contact: Radhika Ratra.
Academic promotion
Having a primary NHS position doesn’t need to be a barrier to academic promotion for individuals who can evidence they meet the criteria both in terms of contribution to St George's and the academic benchmarks for promotion to Reader or Professor. Clinical teachers with an existing St George's contract can view the criteria and guidance here. This is an annual process, with the application window typically opening in February, closing in mid-April, with results announced in the following September after external review. Clinical teachers interested in progressing their career in this way may find it helpful to review the profile pages of existing professors to see the sorts of roles and activities those who have been successful have done along the way.