Responding to today’s report from the General Medical Council, ‘The state of medical education and practice in the UK 2016’, Prof Derek Bell, President of the Royal College of Physician of Edinburgh, said:

“While the recent contract dispute in England has brought many of these issues to the fore, many of the concerns expressed by trainee doctors have been growing in recent years, and are familiar to our Fellows and Members.

“Trainees are the future of medicine in the UK. Their wellbeing and morale are important not just at an individual level but as a reflection of a functioning, sustainable and valued workforce that makes up the Health Service.

“As the Report notes, when services are under pressure, time and resources for education can the first to be sacrificed; and we must ensure the values of time to care, time to train and time for research become an intrinsic part of the culture of the NHS.”

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Contact: Sara Collier - 0131 247 3658 / s.collier@rcpe.ac.uk

Notes:

1.       The state of medical education and practice in the UK 2016’ can be found on the GMC website: http://www.gmc-uk.org/publications/somep2016.asp

2.       ‘Valuing our trainees: the future of medicine in the UK’ in the current issue of the Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh is available here

3.       The College is hosting two medical trainees in 2016-17 as part of the Scottish Clinical Leadership fellowship Scheme (link is external) to assess trainee recruitment and retention. Following a review of the figures and literature they will be undertaking research to assess how factors such as rotas, European working time directive, support and engagement alongside other factors are affecting trainees and how trainees can be better supported in future. Contact standards@rcpe.ac.uk