The brief
The GMC is committed to being an effective, relevant and compassionate regulator for the professions it regulates (doctors, physician associates and anaesthesia associates), patients, the public, and as an employer.
The GMC runs regular corporate strategy and perceptions tracking surveys. Some iterations include qualitative research.
The results provide the GMC with tracking data, used to help assess progress on its 2021–25 corporate strategy. The data also helps the GMC understand perceptions of the regulator and its role among key audiences.
The GMC have commissioned Shift to help with this research from 2022 to 2025.
The approach
- During our involvement with this research, we have supported the GMC by:
- Gaining insights from the following audiences: patients and the public, final year medical students, doctors, physician associates and anaesthesia associates, responsible officers, educators, providers, stakeholders.
- Providing our strong survey expertise – reviewing, updating and adding new questions to the tracking surveys each year. This helps track perceptions over time, maintaining rigour and validity in the survey data, and providing insights aligned to the GMC’s strategy.
- Designing detailed sampling specifications, disseminating the surveys for each audience, and achieving appropriate response rates for robust analysis.
- Analysing and synthesising the data through strong collaboration with the GMC – including workshops, interim reports and presentations, progress reports and sharing analysis plans. To help with analysis, we apply many advanced quantitative techniques such as regression, segmentation, factor analysis and more.
- In some iterations, we supplemented the survey insights with follow-up depth qualitative interviews with select audiences.
The value
We designed and delivered clear and comprehensive reports, with a strong narrative, aligned to the GMC’s strategy. We tracked survey data year-on-year, adjusting for population changes to demonstrate progress on the regulator’s strategic aims. We also aimed to improve the work’s insights and impact each year, being a ‘critical friend’ throughout our collaboration. The research reports are available on the GMC’s website for 2022, 2024 and 2025.