03.04.14
NHS Trusts looking for more ‘generalist’ working physicians
There is less specialist working by consultant physicians in the NHS and more “generalist” roles in treating acutely ill patients, new figures suggest.
The Royal College of Physicians’ (RCP) annual census of consultant physicians in the UK has revealed that acute medicine has seen the largest increase of people working in the field – with a 33% expansion. Although the specialty remains relatively small in real terms, with just 393 practising physicians, this has gone up from 295 in the previous year.
However, it is more interesting that, despite this increase, the demand still exceeds the supply of trained acute medicine specialists. Figures highlighted that 41% of advertised acute medicine posts could not be filled due to a lack of suitably trained applicants.
Dr Harriet Gordon, director of the RCP’s medical workforce unit, said:“NHS trusts are looking for more generalists, and those acute medical posts may have a secondary focus on a particular specialty. However, it is clear that the demand for more generalist physicians is not being met, with only 59% of acute medicine posts being filled.”
The largest specialty is geriatrics, with 1,252 consultant physicians across the UK, representing 10% of the workforce, the census revealed.
But there has been a “marked” increase in the provision of acute care by some specialties. For instance, between 2011 and 2012, the number of renal medicine specialists contributing to acute care rose from 48% to 58% and the number of rheumatology specialists providing acute care shot up from 22% to 44%.
Specialities that have traditionally had a more acute care focus continue to have a large number of consultants providing acute care, such as respiratory medicine (79%), endocrinology and diabetes (82%) and geriatric medicine (83%).
“As set out in the RCP’s Future Hospital Commission report, hospital care must change to better meet the needs of the large numbers of older patients presenting with multiple conditions,” stated Dr Gordon. “Key to this will be a more generalist workforce willing and able to treat acutely ill patients with complex needs that span traditional specialty boundaries.”
At the time the data for the census was collected, there were a total of 12,221 consultant physicians working in the UK, an increase of 411 on the previous year. But the expansion of hospital consultants has fallen considerably during the past three years from 10.2% in 2009 to 3.5% in 2012.
Tell us what you think – have your say below, or email us directly at [email protected]