News

20% increase in numbers taking part in HEE’s National Education and Training Survey

Published on
18th March 2021
Filed under
Healthcare science, STP

The number of learners taking part in Health Education England’s (HEE) 2020 National Education and Training Survey (NETS) is up 20% with nearly 37,000 respondents compared to last year, despite the challenges posed by the pandemic. Over 90% of respondents who took part in the survey said that their overall clinical supervision was positive.

First piloted in 2018 and run twice a year, the survey is the only one of its type to cover multiple professions and the survey results provide vital feedback used to improve the quality of clinical placements across England.

NETS gathers opinions from students about their time in clinical placements to capture feedback on their learning experiences, what they thought worked well and what they think could be improved. As many students were undertaking clinical placements during the pandemic surges they were provided an additional opportunity to comment on their experience and on any impact this had on the quality of their training.

Other key survey findings

  • 89% of students and trainees positively rated the overall educational experience gained in placement
  • 80% of learners would recommend the placement location to friends and family requiring treatment
  • Some professions saw huge rises in the numbers who responded compared to 2019 including:
    • Nursing, Midwifery and nursing associates up 461%,1571 to 8810
    • Allied Health Professionals up 507%,498 to 3024
    • Healthcare science up 167%,147 to 392

Professor Wendy Reid, Director of Education and Quality and Medical Director, Health Education England said:

I want to pay a heartfelt tribute to everyone who took part and for their support in the delivery of high quality care for patients especially when their own training programmes have been disrupted during what have been unprecedented times for everyone in the NHS and wider society.

It is particularly positive that despite the challenges the pandemic has thrown at us, the vast majority of learners were happy with their learning and placement experience. I am pleased to see that a high proportion (86 per cent) of learners had not experienced instances of bullying and harassment and a similar proportion (85 per cent) had not witnessed any. However, while this is welcome news, we need to do better and it is one of the areas that we will be looking to improve on.

It is vital that we routinely ask our learners about key issues such as induction, supervision and support from senior staff to help us to understand how we can continue to make any improvements needed. We do know that there are areas which we can improve on which is why the feedback is invaluable in helping us to shape future policy and gain a helpful insight into the quality of training and clinical environment.

The 2020 NETS ran for five weeks 3 from November until 7 December. The next survey will run in June. To review the high level regional and professional report breakdowns go to https://www.hee.nhs.uk/nets

Last updated on 18th March 2021

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