600 doctors escape NHS crisis for talks at ski resorts
‘Sharing knowledge’
HUNDREDS of doctors are abandoning the crisis-hit health service to attend conferences at top skiing resorts.
Over the next fortnight up to 600 GPs and hospital doctors will be travelling to one of three meetings in France, Austria and Italy.
They last from three days to a week and are meant to widen doctors’ knowledge – while also allowing for ample time on the slopes.
The attendance fees range between £400 and £500 and some doctors will claim them at the expense of the NHS as part of their ‘continued learning and development’.
Flights, accommodation, meals and ski hire will normally come out of their own pockets.
Most doctors will use annual holiday allowance to attend the conferences, although some may claim they are still working, and on study leave.
Nonetheless, the conferences are taking place during the busiest month of the year for the NHS at a time when hospitals and GP surgeries are struggling to cope.
Several doctors have recently described the conditions in A&E units as ‘Third World’ or ‘like a battlefield’, and the worst they have seen in 30 years.
The details of the meetings were uncovered by the Guido Fawkes political website, and critics described them as ‘jollies’ and ‘skiing holidays’.
The first event, the Conference Plus 2018, starts this Saturday in Zurs, Austria, with between 25 and 50 GPs expected to attend.
They will go to 15 hours of lectures covering topics such as kidney disease, breast surgery and skin treatment.
Dr Michael Ingram, a GP in Radlett, Hertfordshire, who runs the conference, also said: ‘A lot of them (doctors) will do it as part of a holiday.’
He said many of the doctors improved their medical knowledge simply by sitting on a chairlift and talking to another specialist. The following weekend up to 500 GPs and hospital doctors will attend the Doctors Updates Winter Conference in Val d’Isere, France, between the January 22 and 25. A website advertising the event promises them the ‘ best skiing together with lively après ski’ in ‘the world’s premier ski resort’.
That same week the Royal Society of Medicine will hold its Winter Meeting in Corvara, Italy, from January 20 to 27.
Up to 60 doctors specialising in urology are expected. Subjects for the conference include the treatment of kidney disease and prostate conditions.
A spokesman for the Royal Society of Medicine said: ‘Each winter the RSM organises a highly regarded international academic meeting where urologists gather for a week of concentrated, highlevel study.
‘ Delegates at the meeting, which this year takes place in Corvara, Italy, spend four and a half hours each day in seminars, workshops and lectures delivered by some of the world’s leading urology experts.
‘The week provides the opportunity for sharing knowledge about some of the most highly complex cases in the field, which doctors can apply to their own practice.’