The Royal College of Surgeons has claimed that NHS operating lists and outpatient clinics for children are still being cancelled across the country due to the “chaotic” introduction of new Government safeguarding regulations, despite repeated warnings from surgeons.
It reported that overzealous interpretation of the requirements by NHS Trusts and long delays in the system mean that NHS surgeons cannot move between Trusts quickly enough to deal with rare cases, of which there are many in children, and to cover absences. The RCS is calling for immediate roll out of passport-style arrangements that allow NHS staff who have already received an enhanced Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) check for one Trust to be recognised across the health service. The College pointed out that highly specialised surgeons are currently being restricted to working at one site with no flexibility to move at short notice to cover and assist colleagues with rare or emergency operations. Instead the vulnerable child must either wait, or travel an unacceptable distance. It has also resulted in trainee paediatric surgeons, with already limited learning opportunities, missing out on crucial training because they are unable to work across different hospital sites. The College has aslo learned that some trainee surgeons have had more than 10 separate CRB checks in just two years. In one instance, a family were no longer able to utilise the expertise of the consultant surgeon in charge of their child’s care due to moving house. Despite the child requiring major specialist bladder surgery the consultant surgeon was unable to assist colleagues during the operation due to a non-transferrable CRB check. The alternative option was for the child to travel around three hours for surgery in London. Trusts are also finding they are unable to fill locum positions or having to wait up to three months for surgeons to begin work, resulting in delays in treating patients and difficulties hitting Government targets. John Black, president of The Royal College of Surgeons, said: “The College has flagged up this situation with Government on three separate occasions in a three month period, and we were reassured that a solution would be reached within a week. The fact that surgeons are still faced with this situation is simply unbelievable.” Su-Anna Boddy, consultant paediatric urologist, said: “We are meant to be training expert paediatric surgeons of the future, yet training opportunities are being wasted due to the unnecessary bureaucracy of re-checking doctors who have already passed rigorous CRB checks. It is imperative that we are able to utilise the best training opportunities, in the right hospitals, at the right time, and it is totally inappropriate that children be transferred to another hospital so that trainees can learn.”
