The Medical Council has redeveloped its survey for interns and trainees. Formerly known as Your Training Counts, which ran from 2014-2021, the survey will give interns and trainees the opportunity to voice their experiences to the Medical Council on an annual basis of what is happening on the ground at clinical training sites in Ireland.

The Medical Council is the regulator of the medical profession and quality assurance body for medical education and training in Ireland. As such, we assess intern and specialist training sites, and undergraduate and postgraduate training bodies and programmes against the rules, criteria, standards and guidelines set by Council. The survey consists of a series of questions and statements which have been mapped to the new suite of Medical Council standards and guidelines for medical education and training.

The survey is for interns and trainees who are on a Medical Council accredited, formal training scheme, i.e., doctors who are on the internship and trainee specialist divisions of the register.

No, this year the survey is aimed at interns and trainees on formal, Medical Council accredited training schemes, i.e., doctors who are on the internship and trainee specialist divisions of the register.

The Medical Council is carrying out a separate piece of research which will involve doctors on informal training schemes.

No, participation in the survey is optional and on a voluntary basis. However, we strongly encourage interns and trainees to participate. Every completed survey strengthens the collective voice.

Please answer all questions in relation to the site you are currently training at or a site that you have trained at within the last 12 months and wish to provide feedback on.

The survey has been designed to provide insight into the quality of the clinical learning environment and key aspects of intern and postgraduate medical education, including how well the site supports intern and trainee clinical education and training, professional development, and overall wellbeing.

The questions are organised in terms of the following quality indicators:
1. Your experience of patient safety at the site you are providing feedback on, including reporting systems and handover. It is essential that doctors in training can practice safely and learn in supportive environments.
2. Culture of learning environments in terms of equality, diversity and inclusion, opportunities to provide feedback, prevalence of bullying and harassment, access to reasonable accommodations, flexible training and leave.
3. Health and wellbeing such as working hours, teamwork and burnout.
4. Access to education and training opportunities like induction, facilities, supervision, local teaching and curriculum coverage.

1. Harness intern and trainee voices and perspectives on the quality of the clinical learning environment and key aspects of intern and postgraduate medical education, including how well the site supports intern and trainee clinical education and training, professional development, and overall wellbeing.

2. Spotlight areas of good practice and share learning among key stakeholders such as sites, intern training networks and postgraduate training bodies.

3. Identify areas for improvement that we can work in collaboration with stakeholders to improve or change. Collectively we can improve the quality of medical education and training nationally.

Overall, the survey should be completed in relation to one site. Please answer all questions in relation to the site you are currently training at or a site that you have trained at within the last 12 months and wish to provide feedback on.

However, you may use the final question to provide feedback on a different site you have recently completed a rotation at (i.e. within the last 12 months). If doing this, please provide the name of the site. If you wish, you can also provide information on the specialty rotation.

You don’t have to complete it in one sitting. You may exit the survey, and if you use the same device and browser, you can resume the survey where you left off at any time. Note: Do not clear your ‘browsing data’ in the interim if you wish to resume the survey at a later stage.

At the end of the survey, please click the "next arrow" button to submit your response.

Yes. There are a number of preliminary questions that are mandatory at the beginning of the survey, all other questions are voluntary.

Please note that only submitted responses will be included in the analysis.

If you are unable to complete all questions but would like to submit your feedback, please use the arrows to go to the end of the survey, click the final "next" arrow button to submit your response.

The survey is open for four weeks, until Wednesday 3 June 2026. Please note, the survey is now closed and results will follow in due course.

Yes. All information provided in this survey will be treated in strict confidence. Please note that the responses you provide are anonymous and in no way will be linked to your Medical Council record. You will not be asked for any of your personal data (e.g., name, registration number, email address).

The survey includes some free text box answers, and for the survey to remain anonymous, please refrain from disclosing any personal identifiable information while completing the survey. Should you decide to include any personal data while completing the survey, the relevant Data Protection and Freedom of Information provisions will apply.

Data Protection
It is not the intention of the Medical Council to collect personal data within the survey, however, should you choose to disclose any in the free text box answers, the below Data Protection information will apply.

As a Data Controller, the Medical Council is subject to the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (“the GDPR”) and the Data Protection Act 2018. Any information gathered, including any personal data, should you disclose any, will only be used for the purpose of which it was obtained, in determining how well the site supports your clinical education, professional development, and overall wellbeing in line with Council standards. If you provide any personal data to the Medical Council while completing the survey, you have rights under the GDPR, in certain circumstances and subject to certain restrictions.

All information gathered from the survey will be held securely by the Medical Council and will be stored only for as long as necessary for the purpose for which it was obtained.

Freedom of Information
The Medical Council is subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2014. The FOI Act is designed to allow public access to information held by public bodies which is not routinely available through other sources, and access to the documentation and results generated, including opinions, from this survey may be sought in accordance with the FOI Act. Subject to the FOI Act, exemptions to personal data and other information will be applied as appropriate and necessary.

If you have any further questions regarding this or other data held by the Medical Council, please contact dp@mcirl.ie

The Medical Council’s unique role as the regulator will enable us to collect data nationally from interns and trainees. Intern and trainee perspectives are vital for understanding how clinical training sites function in delivering education and training, as well as in assessing the overall training experience at sites, including examples of good practice and opportunities for improvement.

The analysis of the dataset will be conducted in-house at the Medical Council. The results of the survey are confidential. The feedback that is given in relation to the site and the contents of any report produced by the Medical Council will highlight those issues that are common to the intern and trainee groups, not those specific to an individual.

The survey findings will be collated and used to create a report showing a national picture of education and training, and detailing how the data has been used to drive improvements. We are committed to maintaining the anonymity of participants so we will be looking for trends in the data. We will publish the report and share with our stakeholders.

Findings will inform a targeted, proportionate, risk-based approach to the quality assurance of medical education and training in Ireland. This will involve working in partnership with key stakeholders to drive quality across the continuum of medical education and training, and high standards among doctors, which will lead to improved patient outcomes.

The Medical Council is the regulator of the medical profession and quality assurance body for medical education and training in Ireland. The survey has been designed to elicit feedback on how well the site supports your clinical education, professional development, and overall wellbeing. Your feedback is a powerful source of information. This is an opportunity for you to help make training environments better for doctors and, ultimately, patients.

Wellbeing supports, should you need them, are available at your clinical training site or from your intern network or postgraduate training body.

The Medical Council also provides a free and confidential mental health service called CAREhub. It is accessible to doctors involved in regulatory processes (such as this survey) and facilitates immediate, direct access to trained counsellors. For more information, please see www.medicalcouncil.ie/public-information/carehub/