STP trainees Exit Survey 2024 – Summary and School responses

Shortly before the programme completion deadline in September 2024, we conducted our annual STP trainees exit survey with completing trainees. The survey aims to capture key information about trainees’ experience on the STP, to assess the overall satisfaction of trainees and to identify potential areas for improvement. 

Overall, trainees’ satisfaction with the STP remains very high. 77% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they enjoyed the experience.  Over 90% per cent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they were pleased they completed the STP and just over 75% cent of respondents would be likely or very likely to recommend the STP. Over 81% of respondents ranked their work-based training department as outstanding or good. 82% felt that overall, they received adequate support from their training officer throughout the STP. This has increased by 7% from 2023. 

As regards destinations, at the time of the survey, just before programme completion, 91% of respondents had already secured a post in a healthcare science role, 83% of them in the NHS. 

While there is a considerable amount of evidence in the survey responses about positive experiences on the STP, every year we look for key themes identified in trainees’ feedback that can be considered as areas which merit a response from the School or areas for improvement. Every year at the School we agree and publish a set of responses and a series of actions we have taken or will take within these areas. The key themes we have selected from the 2024 survey responses are: 

1. Communication and coordination between the National School and HEIs and workplace training providers 
2. Concerns about training quality in some centres and a desire for standardisation and consistency of the quality of training between centres
3. Concerns about the level and the management of the training funding
4. Requests for improvements in trainee well-being support
5. Streamlining and improving the training content and assessments 

1. Communication and coordination between the National School and HEIs and workplace training providers 

Overall, the percentage of respondents who felt that communications from the School were regular enough has risen by one percent from last year.  91% of respondents felt that communications from the School were useful or sometimes useful. The issue of co-ordination of communication and activity and sharing of information between the School and HEIs and training centres was raised quite frequently, with trainees suggesting that there could be greater co-ordination and communication between the School and HEIs and workplace training providers.  

2. Concerns about training quality in some centres and a desire for standardisation and consistency of the quality of training between centres 

Firstly, it is important to note that over 81% of respondents ranked their work-based training department as outstanding or good and 82% of respondents felt that they received adequate support from their training officer throughout the STP, a 7% increase from last year. However, concerns about the training quality and request for standardisation and consistency in expectations and opportunities and training between centres were raised repeatedly in responses to several questions in the exit survey. Additionally, there is evidence from across survey responses that there is a perception that training quality can be variable between centres. This issue has been raised in previous surveys and has been a recurring theme articulated in responses to the exit survey for several years. 

3. Concerns about the level and the management of the training funding 

Across the survey responses there are requests both for an increased level of training funding due to costs of travel to and accommodation at universities and also for better and more consistent access to the NHSE-provided training funding within departments. 

4. Requests for improvements in trainee wellbeing support

Trainees undergo high stress due to heavy workloads and pressure. Several responses highlighted concerns about insufficient support. There were suggestions for improvement regarding workload management, increased mental health resources, peer mentorship and more supportive training environments. A number of responses suggested that the School should provide clearer information to trainees on the available mental health resources and conduct regular well-being checks.  

5. Streamlining and improving the training content and assessments 

Trainees felt that the workload (based on the old STP curricula) is overly repetitive causing a lot of stress with competencies often viewed as administrative tasks rather than learning opportunities. The issue of very varying expectations around evidence submitted towards competencies was raised quite frequently. 

School actions in response to key themes

We outline below a set of responses and a series of actions that the School has already taken or has decided to take within the area of the themes above identified in the 2024 Exit Survey. 

1. Communication and coordination between the National School and HEIs and workplace training providers 

Actions already taken

• Training Officer networks have been formed in Clinical Engineering, Clinical Scientific Computing and Clinical Pharmaceutical Science. These networks have promoted greater communication between the National School and HEIs and workplace training providers as the HEIs, the NSHCS and Training Officers attend these meetings. 
• In 2024, The School asked all the STP HEIs to provide university teaching block information so that it could be published as early as possible on the School website.

Actions to take

• The School will invite existing Training Officer networks to share their practice via the Sharing Good Practice webinar series. 
• The School will take actions to encourage and support the formation of more Training Officer networks. 
• The School will continue to ask all the STP HEIs to provide university teaching block information so that it can be published as early as possible on the School website. 

2. Concerns about training quality in some centres and a desire for standardisation and consistency of the quality of training between centres 

Actions already taken

• The previous mid-programme Mid-term Review of Progression (MRP) has been replaced with a new annual progression review process. This process encourages and monitors trainee progress against reasonable standards and enables training quality concerns to be identified earlier than previously to allow support for trainees to be put in place. 
• In 2024 the School created and has since run an extensive ‘Sharing Good Practice’ webinar series, sharing examples of good training being delivered across the country. The School has additionally developed a searchable catalogue of all of the Sharing Good Practice talks.
  Browse our catalogue of Sharing Good Practice resources. 
• With the publication of the School’s work-based assessment standards in September 2023, the School has published detailed guidance for trainees and trainers about how work-based assessment should be conducted.
  View the work-based assessment standards. 
• In September 2023 the School published its new training standards for training officers. The training standards clearly lay out what is expected of training officers.
  View the training standards and expectations. 
• The School has published a growing series of online training materials on the NHS Learning Hub to support training officers in their role. The training standards have also been used to redesign the School’s Train The Trainer offering. 

Actions to take

• The School will produce and promote strong, clear guidance for employers of STP trainees about how they must plan and support protected study time for trainees.  
• The School’s Accreditation Team will write content for the STP Monthly Memo promoting the accreditation processes and the processes for raising training quality concerns. 
• In 2025-26 The School will publish the results of work it has undertaken to research how, and the extent to which, the work-based assessment standards are being followed. This research may generate more detailed guidance from the School about how training centres should be conducting work-based assessments. 

3. Concerns about the level and the management of the training funding

Actions to take

• The School will review and revise its guidance on the use of the £2,000 training support budget. 
• The School will produce and promote guidance for employers of STP trainees about their responsibility to cover costs incurred by trainees in undertaking training, over and above the £2,000 training support payment, which is a contribution to expenses. The employer’s responsibility to ensure that training expenses are covered is in line with the terms of Agenda for Change contracts and the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook. 

4. Requests for improvements in trainee wellbeing support 

Actions already taken

• The support that the School is able to offer has been enhanced since this particular cohort commenced on programme and it has been promoted more prominently in recent STP Induction events and webinars. 
• The School has developed a detailed ‘Training support’ section on the School website which has increased the amount of guidance available. 
• The previous mid-programme Mid-term Review of Progression (MRP) has been replaced with a new annual progression review process. The development of this annual review of progress enables health and wellbeing concerns to be identified earlier than previously to allow support for trainees to be put in place. 
• The School has published a simple guide to ‘Accessing support or escalating concerns and issues’ on the School website which details the routes and steps to take to access support. 

Actions to take 

• The School will improve awareness of the range and sources of support available via regular features in the STP Monthly Memo. 
• Continue to review the content of the School’s ‘Training support’ section on the School website and explore whether developing FAQs for training support would be a valuable addition to the guidance available. 
• The School will improve guidance and support for trainees taking time out of training for parental and adoption leave. 

5. Streamlining and improving the training content and assessments 

Actions already taken

• The new curricula for STP specialties were launched in September 2022. The School is confident that the repetition of competencies identified by trainees in the 2024 Exit Survey has been removed in the new curricula and that the competencies within the new curricula are more specific to the duties of the role of the Clinical Scientist. 
• The School has launched a new process by which feedback on the new curricula can be submitted and captured. As this feedback is captured, the School will review it to establish whether the issues identified in the 2024 Exit Survey have been resolved.