The Independent on Sunday yesterday carried a front
page article saying that doctors could be forced to spend
a minimum time in the NHS after qualifying or be asked
to reimburse the state for the cost of their training. The
report claims that the drop out rate is costing the NHS
£72 million a year and accounts for 10 per cent of new
medical graduates. This looks like another "kite flying"
briefing which was then down-played by the Department
of Health. We have made a number of points in response:
the briefing is in marked contrast to the health
departments evidence to the review Bodies which
claimed, complacently, that there is no serious problem
with recruitment and retention;
it is inevitable that a very
small number of medical graduates will find they have
chosen the wrong career, but the bulk of those leaving
medicine do so because of the pressures and stresses of
their working environment - the NHS should focus on its
shortcomings as an employer rather than trying to recoup
the cost of medical training;
in order to become a GP or consultant, medical graduates
inevitably give many years of service to the NHS;
the analogy with short service
Army commissions is completely false. Army sponsored
university students have their fees paid and receive a
salary.
There is no case for treating medicine differently
from any other course in higher education.
--- OffRoad 1.9r registered to Adrian Midgley
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