Questions were raised in Parliament on Monday about the changes in doctor training which have since been published and made availablr via the House of Commons Hansard publications, extracts as blow:
"Ms Diane Abbott (Hackney, North and Stoke Newington) (Lab): The House accepts that the old system was unsatisfactory and... it has left junior doctors genuinely in uproar. Some of them contacted me this morning to ask me to put this to the Secretary of State: given that the implementation of the new system appears to be fatally flawed, is it right to continue to allocate jobs before the review gives its final report at the end of the month?
Ms Hewitt [The Secretary of State for Health ]: Whether round 1 should be delayed or scrapped was one of the first issues that the review group considered at its first meeting, and it has come back to it since. The review group has been clear that round 1 should continue, because otherwise the interviews of thousands of junior doctors would be completely disrupted and hospitals could well find themselves in August without the junior doctors they need in place to continue operating..."
"Mr. Crispin Blunt (Reigate Con): The Secretary of State began her review when the scale of the problem became known to her, but the scale of the problem was pretty clear on 13 October to the junior doctors committee representative from the BMA who, in my presence, made quite clear to junior doctors at East Surrey hospital the scale of the disaster that was about to happen and made it clear that the BMA’s junior doctors’ representatives were begging the Department of Health to postpone this process... Is the Secretary of State aware of this potential problem, and is she going to do anything to avert it before it happens?"
"Ms Diane Abbott (Hackney, North and Stoke Newington) (Lab): The House accepts that the old system was unsatisfactory and... it has left junior doctors genuinely in uproar. Some of them contacted me this morning to ask me to put this to the Secretary of State: given that the implementation of the new system appears to be fatally flawed, is it right to continue to allocate jobs before the review gives its final report at the end of the month?
Ms Hewitt [The Secretary of State for Health ]: Whether round 1 should be delayed or scrapped was one of the first issues that the review group considered at its first meeting, and it has come back to it since. The review group has been clear that round 1 should continue, because otherwise the interviews of thousands of junior doctors would be completely disrupted and hospitals could well find themselves in August without the junior doctors they need in place to continue operating..."
"Mr. Crispin Blunt (Reigate Con): The Secretary of State began her review when the scale of the problem became known to her, but the scale of the problem was pretty clear on 13 October to the junior doctors committee representative from the BMA who, in my presence, made quite clear to junior doctors at East Surrey hospital the scale of the disaster that was about to happen and made it clear that the BMA’s junior doctors’ representatives were begging the Department of Health to postpone this process... Is the Secretary of State aware of this potential problem, and is she going to do anything to avert it before it happens?"
Ms Hewitt: "...We are looking at what will happen in August, but the immediate priority is to ensure that we sort out the changes that need to be made for round 1 and round 2 to ensure that this first year—which was bound to be a transitional year—of appointments to the new consultant training system continues in a way that will be fair to everyone and that restores the confidence of junior doctors."
Although, Ms Hewitt, did acknowledge that "the hon. Gentleman and other Members" were "complaining—perfectly reasonably—about problems". The questions still remain.
2 comments:
I trust that this vexed issue will be settled promptly.
Thanks so much Maalie - I hope so as well. Michelle
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