The British Medical Association (BMA) has raised concerns around the lack of opportunity for doctors in the NHS. The BMA said that thousands of doctors are being forced to leave the country to further their careers. In 2007 the BMA forecasts that over 21,000 junior doctors will be competing for only 9000 training positions in the NHS. The main cause of this is the phasing out of senior house officer (SHO) posts following a review and revamp of their medical training.

Government Ministers have acted quickly dismissing the BMA claims saying that the changes would solve shortages in specialist areas. Up to 2005 junior doctors went through three stages of training – pre-registration house officer, senior house officer and specialist registrar. This has changed under the Government’s “Modernising Medical Careers” reforms which have streamlined the training down to two phases – a two year foundation training programme followed by a specialist training programme. The aim is to speed up the training of doctors allowing junior doctors to achieve a consultant post after 11 years, rather than the current 14 years.

The BMA is concerned that next year doctors in senior house officer posts will have to compete for places on specialist training programmes with the first tranche of graduates from the new foundation programme, and of course international medical graduates. Government changes are also restricting applications from foreign students to apply for training in the UK.

Doctors that do not secure specialist training posts (estimated at 11,500) will have to settle for a number of short-term training posts with no guarantee of any ongoing training, or service grade posts which would provide little if any opportunity to progress the careers. A recent BMA survey indicated that most junior doctors would prefer to continue their training overseas than to take up a non training post.

The NHS has already invested time and money in getting junior doctors to this stage of their career. It is estimated that the cost per doctor is in the region of £250,000. The fact that they could now face unemployment is outrageous.

The junior doctor’s precarious position in the UK hasn’t gone unnoticed with the Australian authorities already proactively recruiting in the UK.

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Contact: Robert Stiff  0845 370 2424

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