What is a regional trainee representative? A personal perspective of a pilot role within the East Midlands

Dental trainees have an important role to play in quality assuring training programmes. Local education and training boards (LETBs) actively encourage trainee engagement through structured feedback, which acts as a valuable source of critical appraisal. This is designed to support the structure of training programmes and influences its quality and content. In 2014, East Midlands LETB appointed a regional trainee representative to collate, present and promote dental foundation and core trainee issues to the Dental School Board, as well as highlight their accomplishments and achievements. The pilot brief given was to evolve the post to better support trainees and quality manage the various feedback pathways. This allowed for further research into the existing trainee representative posts across the East Midlands, and highlighted the specific and unique benefits of having regional trainee representation to be the overarching voice on the LETB. This article sets out the framework of responsibilities of a regional trainee representative, contrasts it with established representative posts (regionally and nationally), and advocates why dental schools should appoint to these positions to promote the voices of their trainees. It will also explain the advantages of being a representative, as well as highlight some of the challenges, in the hope that it encourages the next generation to consider applying for these roles.