Background ‘See one, Do one, Teach one’ as preparation to teach and train other doctors, has at last bitten the dust with the recent recommendations for accreditation of Educational and Clinical Supervisors (E and CS). Health Education North West created a database of accredited E and CS, with deadline for initial submission in July 2016.

Hospices/Specialist Palliative Care Units (H/SPCU) provide educational placements for trainees in palliative medicine, medicine and general practice as well as medical students. It is important therefore that substantive doctors working in H/SPCU be accredited E and CS.

Method To assess the scale of preparedness for educational roles, we undertook a survey of H/SPCU working in Merseyside, to ask about medical establishment and the number of doctors accredited as E and CS and checked them against HENW Database.

Results At the time of the survey, there were 8 H/SPCU within Merseyside, all of which had Educational Approval for trainee doctors and trainees in post at the time. There were 21 consultant and 25 speciality doctor posts working in, into or providing on call cover for these units. Comparing this to the HENW database almost all the consultants were accredited as ES, or newly appointed and working towards accreditation. Four (16%) speciality doctors had accreditation as ES and 6 (24%) CS status.

Conclusion Consultants are mainly accredited for educational roles, but few of the specialty doctors are as yet. Many of the specialty doctors were new in post or very junior in their careers, and starting to undergo training for the supervisory role. Clearly as a Network we need to work towards ensuring that all consultants and speciality doctors in palliative medicine have the opportunity to undergo whatever training they need to ensure that they meet the accreditation required as ES and CS and thereby maximise the opportunities that H/SPCUs have as seedbeds for learning in palliative medicine.