Improvements to the safety and quality of health care are a likely benefit of expanding specialist training settings. This was also identified in the MSTT report.
When a facility that provides service takes on a training and education role this often leads to a higher quality of service provision. This is due to factors such as an increased recognition of evidence-based practice by specialist trainees, an increased academic atmosphere (including access to resources such as libraries, internet and journals), and increases in other staff undertaking continuing professional development activities. Clinicians involved in the delivery of teaching tend to acquire new and up to date information from those they teach, as well as imparting their own accumulated knowledge to the trainee.
In addition to education and training the other activity that is undertaken in public hospitals, which could be undertaken to a greater extent in expanded settings, is research. Not only will research add to the broad body of knowledge about human health, it has the capacity to improve the quality of the health care delivered in the facility and assist in attracting high quality health professionals whose interests span clinical service, education, and research.
Acknowledgment of the higher quality of service provision through the delivery of training can afford prestige and recognition to the training setting. The institution will be more attractive and competitive at attracting high quality staff, and this in turn will positively influence the quality of the health care provided.
The wider involvement of other service delivery and administrative staff in teaching, training and research - through activities such as enhanced audits and clinical meetings - will also lift the standard of care, both of the facility and the individuals practising within it. This will lead to the institution being recognised as a centre of excellence, delivering the best standards in medical care. This focus on continuing clinical improvement flows throughout the institution, enhancing the experience for all staff.
In this way, specialist trainees are likely to contribute to an increase in the quality of patient care provided - both directly through the provision of service and indirectly by the impact of their training on the training settings and their culture.
As a result, safety and quality of health care will be assured within the expanded training settings through an increased focus on the patient journey. This will lead to better trained doctors and an enhanced learning and service provision environment.