Shaping the future of medical education through patient partnership

In the NDPCHS Primary Care Medical Education team, we recently hosted a national meeting at Worcester College as part of the General Medical Council (GMC)’s official consultation for their Education Framework 2030 – the policy that will govern how clinicians are trained over the next decade – to discuss how to better involve patients and the public in training future doctors. 

The event, focused on 'The Future of Medical Education and Career Development', brought together colleagues from the GMC (Phil Martin, Neil Jinks and Susan Redward), medical school and PPI representatives from across the UK, our NDPCHS Primary Care Undergraduate Medical Education Public Partners group and leaders from the Doubleday Medical Schools Patient Partnership Collaboration (Dame Robina Shah and founder John Doubleday), a group which promotes patient and public partnership in medical education. 

Why this work matters now

The GMC’s new framework comes at a critical time for medical education as current challenges are becoming increasingly apparent. Research highlights a widening gap between the capacity of clinical educators and the demands of rapidly changing healthcare systems and workforce requirements. Simultaneously, patient needs and expectations are also evolving, both in relation to their clinical care and involvement in clinical education.

The new framework is being designed to respond to these challenges. It aims to promote flexible, fair and innovative learning approaches designed to address gaps in development opportunities while supporting lifelong learning aligned with evolving patient needs.  

To ensure the framework meets the needs of the public, it is crucial for patients, carers and the public to have a more active role in how medical training is designed and delivered. The GMC consultation is keen to explore how patient and public voices can be meaningfully integrated into this project. It is also committed to ensuring the framework embeds patient and public engagement in future expectations of medical education. Discussions explored how this can be achieved, while also enabling each school the flexibility to include and address priorities relevant to locally identified needs.

A framework for meaningful partnership 

There are many ways patients and the public can contribute to medical education. Angela Towle's 'Taxonomy of Patient Involvement in Clinical Education' outlines many ways in which public members might contribute to and participate in clinical education. This ranges from direct involvement in teaching within the clinical setting through to strategic and institutional partnership in the design, assessment and delivery of curricula – demonstrating the breadth of opportunities for collaboration.  

Learning with other communities 

While there are excellent and novel examples being established within clinical education, valuable expertise will also be important to share from established research patient and public involvement (PPI) activities. Similarly, patient participation groups (PPGs) are well-established across UK general practice, providing spaces for dialogue between staff and service users. Involving people with lived experience – patients, carers and members of the public – has strengthened research and improved practice quality. There is still much to learn about how we can better engage and work with many individuals and groups across society, but collaboration across research, practice and clinical education communities offers opportunities to move beyond strategic or superficial activities towards more meaningful public and community engagement that creates genuine exchange, learning and impact.  

Looking forward 

The workshop discussions at our event focused on ways to partner with patients and the public during development of the new Education Framework 2030 as well as ways to address and support public and community engagement in clinical education in the future.  

The constructive and positive discussions throughout the day demonstrated the shared commitment across all stakeholders to advancing medical education that truly supports both learners and their communities. This collaborative approach represents an essential step towards creating education frameworks that are not only academically rigorous but also deeply responsive to public needs and expectations. 

Thank you to all who contributed to the constructive and positive discussions throughout the day.  

Sophie Park and Laura Ingle