New posts would waste money and erode standards, warns BMA - 15 Apr 2008

• Extract from : http://tinyurl.com/635cmg

Proposed new surgical and medical posts would waste public money and open the door to an erosion of standards, the BMA warns the government today (Tuesday, 15 April, 2008).

The BMA is calling on the Department of Health in England not to implement proposals that would see hospital doctors who have achieved a Certification of Completion of Training (CCT) work below the level of consultant.

The Modernising Medical Careers Programme Board, which advises the Department of Health in England on training reforms, has recommended initial plans for around 100 of the posts, known as ‘Post-CCT fellowships’, despite opposition from trainee doctor groups and the BMA.

At a meeting yesterday, BMA representatives on the Board argued against them on the basis that they would waste resources without providing any benefit to the NHS, or to the quality of doctors’ training.

Mr Ram Moorthy, chairman of the BMA’s Junior Doctors Committee, says:

• “It would be a mistake to go ahead with these plans. They wouldn’t benefit anyone. There is no workforce need for them, no training need for them, and no financial need for them.
• “They would take training time and resources away from trainees, without guaranteeing senior jobs for them at the end of the posts.
• “Given the mistakes of last year, the government should now be listening to our concerns.”

Funding for the posts would come from the overall budget for medical training. The BMA is concerned that this would be detrimental to other junior doctors, producing a potential career dead end and diverting much needed funding away from mainstream training.

The intended purpose of the posts is to allow places to be freed up for new junior doctors competing for specialist training. However, the BMA argued that this effect would be minimal, and that the negative aspects of the scheme far outweigh any benefits. It believes that more effective solutions would be to expand numbers of consultant posts and to use the flexibility available in the consultant contract.

Concerns about the plans have also been voiced by other bodies representing junior doctors, including the British Orthopaedic Trainees Association and the Association of Surgeons in Training, which have insisted that the scheme be halted.

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