A letter reminding employers to support doctors who contribute their time for the wider benefit of the health system has this week been sent to NHS chief executives and medical directors.
Signed by NHS chief executive Amanda Pritchard, chief medical officer Chris Whitty, NHS England and NHS Improvement medical director Steve Powis, GMC chair Carrie MacEwen and Academy of Medical Royal Colleges chair Helen Stokes-Lampard, the letter encourages Boards to respond positively to doctors seeking support to undertake “national or regional work for the wider benefit of the public and of health services across England and the devolved administrations”. The letter highlights work for medical royal colleges as one such example.
RCP president Dr Andrew Goddard responded: “It is positive to see that the most senior leadership of the NHS gets the importance of physicians being involved with work to benefit health and care in its widest sense. We hope this letter will be useful for colleagues negotiating job plans a time when the system is particularly stressed. Importantly it acknowledges that while there are pressures on local resources, national and regional activity by clinical teams is an important investment in the future improvement of patient care.”
A copy of the letter is available here. It updates previous guidance published in July 2017.