16.05.13
Certificate of Fitness for Honorary Practice launched
A new system seeks to speed up short-term transfer of consultant doctors elsewhere in the NHS or at universities.
Certificates will verify short-term work, to improve responsiveness to patient emergencies and enable more consultants to provide extra support for patients. The existing system can take weeks before a transfer is approved.
The Certificate of Fitness for Honorary Practice has been developed by NHS Employers and the AoMRC and will ensure all checks are up to date and agreed, so can be produced when consultants are invited to assist in patient care elsewhere.
They can be used for emergency or occasional treatment of a patient, promoting continuity of care, and provide or receive short-term specialist training.
Dean Royles, chief executive of the NHS Employers organisation, said: “This certificate retains all of the safeguards that ensure doctors are fit to work. But it will help doctors to work across organisations, being in the right place, at the right time, when patients and colleagues need them most.
“We’ve been looking at what’s happened in the NHS and seen occasions where there’s simply no time to carry out the mandatory checks when a consultant is best placed to do short-term work elsewhere. We’re really pleased to have worked with the AoMRC to produce a workable, efficient way of speeding up the process.
“Having an ‘honorary contract’ with another organisation is already common among consultants. But the new certificate expedites all the other checks that come with honorary contracts, and creates short-term opportunities when those contracts aren’t in place.
“Adaptability is essential in modern healthcare and I hope this is just one of many changes that see doctors working more flexibly right across the NHS.”
Professor Terence Stephenson, chairman of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (AoMRC), said: “The certificate will make it quicker and simpler for doctors to work temporarily at another trust, which will benefit patient care and treatment as well as doctors’ skills.
“Too many times opportunities have been missed by the extended time it takes to obtain an honorary contract. It is essential that we make it easier for doctors to support the NHS as a whole by being able to cover absences and emergencies as well as improving their own training and skills in other trusts.”
Su-Anna Boddy, consultant paediatric urologist, Royal College of Surgeons, said: “This certificate provides excellent opportunities for improved patient care by allowing clinicians to move between trusts much more easily than is currently the case. In particular, allowing them to work in other hospitals with significantly reduced paperwork will help doctors to share expertise and facilitate better working across clinical networks.”
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