Trainee Wellbeing
During the year, the Health and Wellbeing function continued to expand its reach and impact across Royal College of Physician of Ireland training programmes. More than 60 trainees received support, with interventions ranging from advice and signposting to ongoing wellbeing support.
A national of the wellbeing of hospital doctors was launched under the leadership of Aspire Fellow Dr Mary Teresa O'Neill and Principal Investigator Professor Blánaid Hayes. With over 3,500 survey responses from hospital doctors nationwide, the study represents a significant contribution to understanding the wellbeing needs of the medical workforce and will help inform future initiatives when findings are published in 2026/2027.
Significant progress was also made in developing policies and resources to support trainees. A cross-college disability and reasonable accommodation working group was established to review and strengthen approaches to reasonable adjustments in training, ensuring greater consistency and inclusivity across training bodies. From this working group, a new Reasonable Adjustment Policy and Application Process was established, including the establishment of a Reasonable Adjustment Committee to manage requests going forward.
Three new guidance documents were published during the year:
- Leave Entitlements for NCHDs Who Are Parents,
- Prolonged Sick Leave Guidance,
- Childcare Resources.
These resources provide practical support and clarity for trainees navigating important personal and professional circumstances.
The mentoring and peer support programmes experienced substantial growth throughout the year. The Consultant Mentoring Programme expanded to over 20 mentors, increasing the availability of experienced support for trainees. To strengthen mentoring capability, six regional mentoring training courses were delivered to consultants and final-year Higher Specialist Trainees (HSTs), receiving highly positive feedback.
The Peer Mentoring Programme also continued to develop, with more than 130 mentoring matches facilitated across HST, BST and Intern programmes. Senior trainees were paired with more junior colleagues to provide guidance, support and share learning, while a new online mentoring training module was developed to help prepare mentors for their role.
The second annual Trainee Wellbeing Day was successfully delivered, attracting over 120 trainees from across the training programmes. Reflecting its growing importance and impact, the event was approved as a Study Day across all RCPI training programmes, enabling greater participation and engagement.
At a national level, RCPI also demonstrated leadership in trainee wellbeing by becoming the first College to adopt and implement the Forum Wellbeing Standards. The implementation framework developed by RCPI has helped establish best practice and has provided a model for other Colleges seeking to implement the standards within their own organisations