Lack of doctors ‘could harm NHS reforms’

An article in the Association’s BMA News suggested that uncertainty over Primary Care Trust mergers had caused some Trusts to freeze recruitment, meaning some trainee doctors were prevented from becoming consultants.

The BMA’s Committee for Public Health Medicine and Community Health (CPHMCH) said this could harm the Government’s public health drive and has estimated that as many as 100 junior doctors have been prevented from progressing in their careers while some could be forced out of the profession altogether.

Sub-committee chairman Dr Justin Varney believes that plans to merge PCTs under “commissioning a patient-led NHS” measures would significantly reduce the opportunities open to trainees. He stated: “No-one seems to have registered the impact of a “commissioning a patient-led NHS” on training, particularly in public health. People also do not want to recruit because of financial pressures. No consultant posts are being created.”