Mumtaz Patel¹
Jane Mamelok¹
1 NHS England

Inequality in medical education has existed for many years. The evidence of the attainment gap is at all levels. Between 5 and 30 percentage point difference in education performance exists between UK White trainees, UK black and minority ethnic trainees and International Medical Graduates. Similar gaps are seen for supportive environments, annual review of competence progression (ARCP) outcomes and postgraduate exams. 

Our research at NHS England has focused on earlier identification and interventions to better support trainees. Our cross-collaborative differential attainment(DA) research is with key stakeholders including, the General Medical Council, Royal Colleges, Universities to enable research to be applied in practice and integrated into policy. We have developed a programmatic cross-specialty approach with a stepwise targeted set of interventions with novel approaches to improve training experience, educational outcomes and improve recruitment and retention. 

We have linked trainee interventions with educator development programmes to improve personalised support for trainees. A Learning Needs Analysis tool has been developed providing an effective individualised approach, identifying bespoke trainee needs, which informs personalised interventions to improve outcomes. This work is potentially transferable to other healthcare and training programmes. 

Why is the topic important for research and / or practice? 
Tacking inequality and addressing DA is hugely important from a moral, ethical, personal impact, regulatory and practical perspective. We all lose out if doctors do not receive the support or opportunities they need to achieve their potential. We need to ensure that training environments, assessments and curricula are fair and that any barriers to progression are valid, fair, and justifiable to protect patients. Attainment gaps represent wasted potential and there is a need to apply research into practice and consider interventions that have been shown to have made a difference. A better trained, more confident workforce will have a benefit to all, in particular our patients. 

Workshop format, including participant engagement methods 

Highly interactive workshop, sharing ideas, themes, considering these in the context of a variety of healthcare settings and training pathways. 

There will be facilitated discussion both in a main group and smaller group setting, with ideas considered to tackle inequality in medical education, reduce the attainment gap and enhance training. 

All educators, trainees, stakeholders interested to learn about tackling inequality in medical education. 

Level of workshop (beginner / intermediate / advanced)
Intermediate 

Take-home messages / workshop outcomes / implications for further research or practice 

The priority is to build the evidence on what works and share lessons learned. There is no one intervention can eliminate inequality in medical education and tackle DA effectively. There is a need for system wide interventions with earlier identification of learning needs and tailored interventions for trainees and trainers. 

- Improved understanding of inequality in medical education, differential attainment and ways to address within own learning environment. 

- Share current research and how this can be applied in practice
- Dissemination of good practice across disciplines and institutions - Improve experiences and outcomes for learners. 

Maximum number of participants
50 

References (maximum three) 

1. https://www.gmc-uk.org/-/media/documents/2016-04-28-fairpathwaysfinalreport_pdf- 66939685_pdf-67089434_pdf-70345187.pdf 

2. Woolfe K, Rich A, Viney R, Needleman S, Griffin A. Perceived causes of differential attainment in UK postgraduate medical training: a national qualitative study. BMJ Open 2016;6:e013429 

3. Jeremy Brown, Liam Jenkins, John Sandars, Julie Bridson, Mumtaz Patel (2023) Evaluation of the impact of the Royal College of Psychiatrists Clinical Assessment of Skill and Applied Knowledge masterclass on reducing the attainment gap General Medical Council