15.03.16
Consultant shortage undermines ‘seven-day’ NHS plans, says RCP head
The government’s plans for delivering a ‘seven-day’ NHS have been called into question as new figures reveal a significant shortfall in consultant numbers.
In her keynote speech at this year’s Medicine 2016 Conference, Professor Jane Dacre, president of the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), revealed that 40% consultant physician posts were unfilled in 2015.
She added that the main reason for posts remaining unfilled was “nearly always due to a lack of candidates”.
“If 40% of teaching or policing posts were unfilled, this would be a national crisis……but somehow we doctors are expected to roll our sleeves up and to muddle on through and fill in the gaps ourselves,” said Prof Dacre.
She also noted that shortages of trainee doctors are so serious that one in five members of the RCP, which represents non-specialist hospital doctors in England, believe patient care is compromised.
Prof Dacre said: “My first big question for the Secretary of State is – if we have neither enough trainees nor consultants to run the service now, how are we going to implement a safe seven-day service?”
She rejected the health secretary’s push to impose a new contract on junior doctors, adding that it will deter medical graduates from joining the service. “My worry, and that of other professional groups, is that the squeeze on the junior doctors is only the beginning, and our other clinical colleagues are next in line,” added Prof Dacre.
However, a Department of Health spokesman: “There is clear, independent clinical evidence of variation in the quality of care across the week and working together with the NHS we are determined to tackle this problem,” a spokeswoman said.
“That’s why we’ve committed to an extra £10bn a year to fund the NHS’s own plan for the future and want to make sure the right staff and support is available to create a safer NHS seven days a week.
“There are already more than 10,700 additional doctors and consultants since May 2010 and 50,000 doctors in training.”
Recently, as the dispute over junior doctors’ contracts worsened, the British Medical Association (BMA) demanded that Jeremy Hunt MP explains how the government plans to fund a seven day NHS.