Professor Jane Metcalf
Deputy Medical Director & Consultant Physician North Tees & Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust
Nominated by: Dr. Anandapuram Deepak Dwarakanath, Medical Director, University of Hospital of North Tees
How does the nominee inspire you?
She has a long track record in our Trust and in the University of Durham in providing innovative teaching methods to multi-professional groups. She has led undergraduate education for over a decade. Of late, she has energetically arranged support for overseas doctors and refugee doctors. This work has been recognised internationally and also by the major authorities in the UK. She continues to inspire juniors and seniors to follow her passion for medical education and training.
Contribution to medical practice and impact on care
Jane has developed and stringently evaluated a programme for overseas doctors to facilitate transition of doctors who qualified overseas into working in the NHS. The programme includes assessment of learning needs through assessment clinical skills, a targeted programme of training spread across several weeks including communication skills, ethical and management frameworks in the NHS and career advice, ongoing support through buddying, enhanced educational supervision and social events to welcome and promote integration. Retention and career progression were better in the doctors on the programme and they also had significantly less involvement in patient safety incidents than non-participants. The programme has been embedded in the trust for 5 years and Jane has been worked across the North East and Cumbria to share good practice and teach other organisations how to implement a similar programme. The research has been published in Medical Education and was awarded best research paper at the Association of Medical Education in Europe 2016. She is working with the National Association of Tutors to develop national guidelines and with colleagues in the Midlands to develop an accredited programme for national use.
Subsequently she has developed a programme to support refugee health care professionals back into practice working with the local Deanery and a charity. The first group started in December 2016 and has 12 participants: 11 doctors and one pharmacist. They each have a clinical mentor and support with passing IELTS, then tailored clinical attachments with simulation, clinical and communication training and an external programme of speakers from the GMC, BMA and others and finally they will have support in applying for jobs. Already 2 participants are progressing through PLAB exams and we expect one will be in employment by the end of the year.