Thread by @DrAmirKhanGP

The new NHS workforce plan, a 🧵

I’ve been an NHS doctor for almost twenty years, a senior lecturer at two universities, I teach and train medical/nursing/pharmacy/paramedic/PA students, and a GP trainer for almost a decade

I fully support the need for more doctors, nurses, midwives etc - we’ve been shouting this from the rooftops for years

Increasing student places is key, widening access to university courses for those from disadvantaged backgrounds also important

There is no meat on the bones of this plan when it comes to the main issue within the NHS workforce - retention

Improving working conditions, morale and pay need to be done immediately otherwise you’re just filling a leaking bucket

Cutting medical school training time to 4 years is not a good idea

There is so much to learn and cover even within 5 years, so many specialities to gain experience in, communication skills training, clinical skills practice, science knowledge to gain

It wasn’t long ago that Foundation Year training was introduced as two years as opposed to the previous House Officer one year in recognition that medical graduates need additional training and support straight out of medical school

The idea of an apprenticeship model to become doctors is ludicrous

Being a doctor is more than just a clinical placement attachment, whilst that’s important, so is the consolidation of that learning that takes place at university

With the addition of university places, we also need more hospital and GP placements for these students to go to and these have to be quality placements

Many hospitals and GP surgeries are already saturated with students and don’t have the capacity to take on more - the clinical staff already exhausted from patient care and the teaching they already do

Whilst I think it’s important we improve patient care and ensure it’s delivered in a timely manner

Patients need quality care, they need to trust their clinician has had the appropriate training to treat them safely

Funding is also important- this plan is going to take 15 years to implement but the funding for that length of time has yet to be detailed

The plan seems to be aimed at quantity rather than quality

You can’t provide excellent patient care by cutting corners in training

Students who don’t get adequate training are being set up to fail when it comes to their assessments and work as practitioners, this is not fair on them

So yes we need more clinicians in the NHS but yet focus has also got to be retention and the maintenance of quality training

Only then can patients be treated safely and well