Following its recent warning that Scotland
is in danger of producing a generation of inadequately trained
doctors and compromising patient safety, the Royal College of
Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE) has published a new Charter for
Medical Training which it has developed and believes will provide
a practical foundation for ensuring that both doctors’ training
and patient safety can be improved.
The
Charter for Medical Training is relevant to all doctors working
within the medical specialties in the hospital sector and was
developed in response to an erosion in the balance between the
time that Medical Trainees (doctors training to become consultants)
have for training and providing direct patient care, and their
Trainers (consultants) have for overseeing this training. Most
significantly, successive Independent Inquiry reports and multiple
surveys conducted by the Medical Royal Colleges had indicated
that this has become a major problem within the NHS throughout
Scotland and the whole of the UK with Trainee doctors often simply
and inappropriately used to plug gaps in hospital rotas at the
expense of their training.
The Charter is based on five guiding principles –
- patient safety and care are paramount;
- all parties recognise that training and service elements
must be balanced;
- Trainees are valued for their service (patient care) contribution;
- Trainees are actively involved in the training process; and
- Training is fair, based on principles of equality and fosters
the development of professionalism
The Charter then lays out 26 detailed commitments (covering
the areas of Patient Care and Safety, Recruitment and Induction,
Balancing Training with Service Provision, Ensuring Quality Training,
Assessment and Curricula, and Support and Development). Key commitments
include –
- the duties, workload and work patterns of Trainees should
ensure patient safety;
- Trainees and their Trainers should receive protected time
for clinical training;
- Trainee numbers will be based on accurate workforce planning;
- Trainees should receive supervision and support with their
clinical case-load and work at a level appropriate to their
level of competence;
- Trainees have access to a sufficient breadth and depth of
clinical work to enable them to achieve clinical competencies;
- processes for recruitment, selection and appointment are
open, fair and effective with specific details regarding training
posts available at the time of application;
- Trainees receive equitable access to personal, ring-fenced
study leave budgets to support their training needs; and
- Trainees are supported in monitoring and accurately documenting
working patterns.
The Charter for Medical Training was developed by the RCPE’s
Trainees & Members’ Committee, which represents approximately
4000 medical Trainees, and is backed by the RCPE. |
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