The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) has welcomed the government’s announcement of more than 350 additional training posts for resident doctors in England, alongside new NHS England pilots to improve rotational training.
The announcements reflect concerns long raised by resident doctors through the RCP next generation campaign, including the need for more training opportunities, smaller geographical footprints, greater stability, improved flexibility and training pathways that better support doctors' personal and professional lives.
Responding to the news, Professor Mumtaz Patel, RCP president, said:
‘The RCP welcomes the creation of more than 350 additional training posts for resident doctors in England, alongside new pilots to improve rotational training. Through our next generation campaign, resident doctors have consistently told us that training bottlenecks, frequent hospital moves, long commutes and uncertainty about future placements can have a significant impact on their wellbeing, training experience and family life. Expanding training numbers and testing approaches that could reduce disruption are therefore welcome, but they must be part of a broader programme of reform.
‘Increasing training numbers is only part of the solution. Training capacity depends on experienced senior doctors having the time and resources to supervise, assess and support resident doctors. If we are to expand training successfully, investment in training posts must be matched by investment in the trainers and training environments that make high-quality medical education possible.’
Dr Stephen Joseph, co-chair of the RCP Resident Doctor Committee, said:
‘For resident doctors, today’s announcement will be welcome if it leads to more opportunities to progress. More training posts are needed, but where those posts are located, how they are allocated and what the training experience looks like will be just as important. After all, creating more posts is welcome, but expanding training capacity is about more than numbers. Resident doctors need access to high-quality supervision, educational opportunities and protected training time if these reforms are to deliver lasting improvements.’
‘On rotational training, one of the clearest messages from the RCP next generation campaign and our national survey has been that this needs to work better for doctors: 41% of resident doctors said that geographical rotational training had a very negative or mostly negative impact on their lives, while nearly half (47%) cited the disruption of rotations as a negative factor for their wellbeing. These NHS England pilots are a welcome acknowledgement of those concerns, although some of the approaches being tested are already in place in parts of the country.
‘We hope the next phase of the medical education and training review will build on this work with ambitious, creative solutions. Expanding training opportunities is welcome, but without sufficient supervision capacity, protected trainer time and high-quality educational support, there is a risk that simply increasing numbers will not deliver the training experience that resident doctors and patients deserve.'