Kim shares her excitement about the new GCP Consolidation training

This is my first post as a GCP Programme Co-Lead with Anthony Homer and I’m really pleased to announce the launch of the new GCP Consolidation Training.

In late March 2023, I attended the GCP facilitator meeting in Leeds, where we were given a sneak preview of the new training and asked to review it as a learner. By the end of the day, I was excited to introduce and facilitate the new training for all our partners in Wessex. Yes, I do get excited about all things GCP, each to their own!

So why am I excited?

The new training centres on practical exercises and group discussions over 3 hours, without going through the same full materials from on-line Introduction to GCP. This allows the learner to focus on exploring and applying the knowledge they have gained from their completion of GCP eLearning with the support of experienced GCP facilitators.

There are a couple of new exercises, and updates on the existing ones we use aimed at ALL researchers. I remember previously as a learner, I had found some of the exercises difficult as I’m not clinical and could only partially participate. As a facilitator, I saw the same difficulty for some clinical learners when the exercises related to an unfamiliar speciality area. It is encouraging that when the NIHR Coordinating Centre updated the exercises, they’ve taken the roles of learners into account (they do listen to your feedback!) and ensured it can be relatable to both clinical staff in all speciality areas and non-clinical staff.

Overall, I see these changes as an improvement to the learners’ experience with benefits to their roles. The fact that it is only a 3 hour session also means it fits better with challenging schedules! Before the full launch, 2 regions had the opportunity to deliver the new training over the summer with some brilliant feedback which I thought you might be interested to hear.

How will the GCP Consolidation be run in Wessex?

We are going to continue with virtual facilitation within Wessex as it seems to be the most popular option and have just finalised sessions based on our current waiting list for the rest of the year. If you or your colleagues have completed your eLearning Introduction to GCP in the past 6 months,do consider signing up for the course by emailing train.crnwessex@nihr.ac.uk. When we have a list of dates for 2024, we will publish these on the NIHR Learn website and via NIHR CRN Wessex Communications.

Is face to face training an option?

If any organisations would prefer face to face facilitation of this training, do let Anthony and I know via train.crnwessex@nihr.ac.uk and we can look into if this would be possible.

Not sure if it's right for your team?

We are looking at arranging a taster session webinar soon so anyone who is in a line manager or Educator position can have an overview of the content to see if it would be beneficial for their staff.

Again, if you are interested in attending this, do send in your name to train.crnwessex@nihr.ac.uk. Once a date has been set for the webinar, we will let you know!

[Course feedback comments from image above: 'People really enjoyed this, we got some excellent discussion.' '100% would recommend the course.' 'Interactive, enjoyable and informative.' 'All learners voted this course as excellent.' 'Really excellent session. Loved how practical it was with all the exercises.' 'I am new to research and this session was invaluable for my learning in putting theory into practice.' 'The whole session was brilliant and pitched at the right level.' 'Knowledgeable facilitators.']