Junior doctor 'shambles' could force thousands overseas, warns BMA
From Mmc
Junior doctor 'shambles' could force thousands overseas, warns BMA
By Toby Helm, Chief Political Correspondent Last Updated: 4:16am BST 25/04/2007
Junior doctors have warned that Britain’s best young medical talent is being driven abroad because of bungled reforms of NHS training.
More than 500 junior doctors gathered outside Parliament today ahead of a debate on the crisis in the House of Commons.
The doctors complained of chaos with the online system for recruiting doctors, over-recruitment from abroad, along with a mismatch between the number being trained here and the jobs available. The problems have left many with no option but to look overseas for work, they claimed.
Dr Jo Hilborne, chairman of the BMA’s Junior Doctors Committee, said: "The NHS could lose thousands of its best young doctors simply because of poor planning. This is not acceptable.
"It’s unfair on them, it’s unfair on their patients, and it’s unfair on the taxpayers who’ve funded their training." advertisement
Matt Jamison-Evans, of Remedy UK, the organization fighting for a better deal for young doctors, added: "Junior doctors want to be moving forward with their skills.
"People will either leave the profession, or will leave the country and get training somewhere else."
Addressing the rally in Westminster, shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley told the doctors that ministers should designate more specialist training posts to bridge the gap between the number of applications and the smaller number of training posts available.
He said: "Junior doctors have been systematically undermined by this Government’s failure to implement an open, fair and effective selection process for training posts.
"Patients will ultimately lose out as some of our most talented and skilled doctors are forced to seek opportunities overseas and out of the profession altogether.
"Unless strategic solutions are provided as a matter of urgency, the future of NHS care is at stake. I will be pressing the Government on this issue again today in Parliament."
Last week, it was revealed that an employers’ organisation was considering working with Voluntary Service Overseas to offer surplus trainee doctors the opportunity to go abroad.
The likely option for most doctors who do not get training posts will be to take a service grade NHS job which does not include any training.
A survey by the BMA, however, found two thirds of those polled would not consider this kind of job. It also found that 4.5% of the doctors surveyed have already had offers of posts overseas confirmed.
Some 39% said they would look for a medical post outside the NHS, while 44% said they might leave medicine altogether.
The BMA wants a guarantee from the Department of Health that no junior doctor will lose out on training as a result of the online application process (MTAS) or competition for posts.
A Department of Health spokesman said: "There are many options open to applicants who do not secure a training place, including trust grade posts in the NHS, locum work, or spending a period of time working outside the NHS.
"However, it’s not unusual for doctors to either work abroad or travel and Australia and New Zealand are favourite destinations.
"The majority of those who go abroad come back to England to continue their careers in the NHS, enriched by their overseas experiences," the spokesman said.
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