Prof Derek Bell, President of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, and Chair in Acute Medicine, Imperial College, London, said,
“We are very supportive of the Academy proposals to stagger the date of the trainee changeover to improve patient safety [1]. These proposals build on work undertaken by the RCPE and the Society of Acute Medicine in 2011 which provided further evidence of the increased risk to patient safety caused by all trainees changing over on the same day. Most notably our survey found that 90% of doctors who responded believed that the changeover had a negative effect on patient safety, and 93% believed this had a negative effect on the quality of care provided [2]. These findings provided a stimulus for change. It is essential that these changes are implemented as soon as possible and that ongoing delays regarding the implementation of the Shape of Training review do not delay this further”.
ENDS
[2] ‘August is always a nightmare’: results of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and Society of Acute Medicine August transition survey, Clinical Medicine 2011, Vol 11, No 4: 322–6
http://www.clinmed.rcpjournal.org/content/11/4/322.full.pdf+html
