02.02.16
Patient safety ‘put at risk’ by gaps in rotas
The new census of consultant physicians and higher specialty trainees shows a high level of concern about gaps in trainee rotas and the obvious patient safety implications.
The census, produced by the Royal College of Physicians, Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow and published yesterday, shows that a fifth or consultants say the rota gaps are frequent enough to be causing significant patient safety concerns.
A further 48% on top of this 21% says trainee rota gaps do happen but are dealt with using workaround solutions to avoid compromising patient safety.
Dr Harriet Gordon, director of the RCP’s Medical Workforce Unit, said: “We have been monitoring rota gaps for the last three years, and they have remained stable at 20–21%; therefore, the problem is neither new nor resolving. We know that consultants do ‘act down’ to fill such gaps but as there is a consultant shortage – this is not a sustainable solution. Such a situation is clearly unhelpful for staff, for our hospitals and most importantly the patients.”
Katherine Murphy, chief executive of the Patients Association, said: “The Patients Association is concerned about the findings of the RCP survey and calls for an increase in the number of frontline staff caring for patients in hospitals. Services across the NHS are struggling to maintain safe levels of staffing, which directly impacts on the quality of care that patients are receiving. It cannot be sustainable for consultants to plug these gaps themselves, particularly given that 40% of consultant positions were not filled last year.”
The census also suggests more jobs are being advertised in acute medicine and geriatric medicine, which the RCP says suggests “a move away from specialist working to more generalist roles treating acutely ill patients”, especially the frail elderly. This seems to be a rising trend, with 65% of people admitted to hospital being over 65 years old.
More findings from the census are available here.