Junior Doctors Missing Out on Vital Training

Posted 08/12/2016

A study conducted by the General Medical Council (GMC) has highlighted a number of concerns regarding the training of and pressure placed upon junior doctors in the UK. It has revealed that of 50,000 Junior Doctors asked, 43% considered their daytime workload to be ‘heavy’ or ‘very heavy’ and in addition to the pressures felt within the hospitals, the percentage of junior doctors who would describe themselves as sleep-deprived has risen from 21% to 24.4% in four years.

The concerns arose after it was revealed that a junior doctor was left as the sole medic in charge of 300 patients overnight, a case that the GMC’s Chief Executive, Charlie Massey described as “extremely concerning”. Mr Massey continued to say that the risk of a doctor being unable to cope in the event of two medical emergencies means that a lack of adequate staff should never happen.

It is evident that in more than one hospital junior doctors are being “used and exploited” as experienced doctors because of a lack of staff to cope with increasing demands. Mr Massey explains that it is being reported to him that junior doctors are often called out of training sessions to attend problems involving patients. Whilst this could not necessarily be described as unreasonable during a crisis, it does become detrimental to the trainees and future patients if it is occurring on a regular basis.

Mr Massey has issued a strong warning to the NHS reinforcing his views that the GMC is an external body that it responsible for overseeing the effective training of junior doctors and that it is, and will remain, a body that can intervene if this objective is not being effectively met regardless of the pressures being placed upon the NHS.

A new education contract in Wales has announced plans for guaranteed protected time for training of junior doctors, therefore aiming to ensure that junior doctors are given a cohesive training experience.

Lauren Van Buren, a member of the clinical negligence team at Ashtons, comments:

“If medical professionals are suffering as a result of a lack of personnel and resources it is inevitable that patients will suffer and that complications in treatment will arise. That those who are the future of our medical profession are already on the back foot at the very beginning of their careers is deeply concerning and something that the Government must address. The GMC are taking sensible steps in placing the trainers on warning that they are willing to step in if necessary. It is imperative that training time is in fact a time for juniors to learn and not a time when they can be relied upon to provide the bare minimum in respect of supervision of patients, to the detriment of both their training and patient safety.”