Physicians calling for new approach to recruitment
PHYSICIANS in Wales are calling for a fresh approach to recruiting doctors in a bid to bring down hospital waiting lists.
The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) said no amount of investment or planned care recovery plans can make up for a lack of doctors, nurses and allied health professionals to deliver patient care.
With a significant and growing NHS recruitment crisis in Wales, the RCP said health boards and NHS trusts must think differently about how they can fill hospital rota gaps.
One solution, they claim, is to design new specialty (SAS) jobs around the individual, giving them to opportunity to create their own job plan and pursue their clinical and teaching interests.
SAS doctors are a significant and experienced part of the medical workforce. They work in non-training senior roles with at least four years of postgraduate medical training.
There are SAS doctors in every hospital specialty, as well as in primary and community care.
In Wales, there are approximately 800 SAS doctors making up almost 20% of the NHS hospital workforce (rising to 30% when locally employed doctors are included).
While the planned increase in medical student numbers in Wales is extremely welcome, it takes more than a decade to train a senior doctor, and in the meantime, the NHS
Wales spend on agency and locum staff is eye-watering – potentially as much as £200m a year, or around 2% of the entire health and social services budget.
The RCP described this as “a huge opportunity to harness the potential of experienced doctors who have decided to make a positive career choice to opt out of the postgraduate training pathway”.
In a new report, A positive career choice: supporting SAS doctors in Wales, the RCP calls on health boards to ensure that SAS doctors have protected time for career development, education and research, and that their workload and clinical experience is formally recognised.
Dr Olwen Williams, RCP vice president for Wales said: “With a significant and growing NHS recruitment crisis in Wales, health boards and trusts must think differently about how they can fill hospital rota gaps.
“One solution is to design new specialty (SAS) jobs, giving doctors to opportunity to create their own job plan and pursue their clinical and teaching interests.
“We are spending hundreds of millions of pounds on locum doctors in Wales, yet 59% of advertised consultant physician posts in Wales were not filled this year.
“That’s three in every five posts remaining empty – and in 63% of those cases, it was because there were no applicants at all.
“There are some very difficult choices ahead to try and reduce waiting lists and put the NHS back on a sustainable footing.
“But what is clear is that a lack of workforce across all professions will continue to limit the pandemic recovery plan. Increased investment in the NHS cannot improve patient care if we don’t have the staff to treat patients.”
Dr Jamie Read, RCP lead for SAS doctors across the UK said: “SAS doctors are a very diverse professional group: some will have four years of experience while others will have 40 years or more.
“People become SAS doctors for a wide variety of reasons and many of them have made a positive and conscious choice to take an SAS role. It’s very important that we recognise and support SAS doctors as individuals.”
The RCP said many SAS doctors have made a positive choice to step into an SAS role, maybe for geographical stability or the chance to work regular hours in a chosen specialty.
These posts often provide a better work-life balance than the traditional training pathway.
SAS doctors can work towards the CESR qualification or apply for a training post if they wish to become a consultant, although many prefer a career as an SAS doctor.