GMC makes junior doctors warning

The General Medical Council (GMC) has suggested that increasingly heavy workloads are eroding the time that junior doctors have for training.

According to the GMC’s annual survey of medical education and training in the UK, which canvassed opinions from around 55,000 doctors in training, over half of doctors in training reported that they regularly work beyond their rostered hours.

Additionally, up to 25 per cent said their working patterns left them sleep-deprived on a weekly basis, which has become a worsening trend in recent years.

Marking an increase on 2012, 43 per cent of doctors reported their daytime workload as ‘very heavy’ or ‘heavy’, with specialisms - such as emergency medicine (78.4 per cent), acute internal (59.7 per cent) and general internal medicine (60 per cent), respiratory medicine (61 per cent), and gastroenterology (63 per cent) - reporting the highest workloads.

The survey found that doctors with excessive workloads were more likely to have to leave teaching sessions to answer clinical calls, as well as causing doctors in training to be forced to cope with clinical problems beyond their competence and having inadequate handovers with colleagues.

Alarmingly, one in four junior doctors, representing approximately 13,000 professional, reported feeling short of sleep on a regular basis.

The GMC says that time allocated for training must be protected so junior doctors can gain the experience and skills they need for their development. Health ministers have responded by stating that improving support for training is a priority.

Charlie Massey, chief executive of the GMC, said: “Those responsible and accountable for the delivery of medical education locally must take appropriate steps to ensure the training of doctors remains protected. Medical training is so often a bellwether for the quality and safety of patient care and patients are directly at risk if support and supervision of doctors in training is inadequate.

“We have clear standards about protecting doctors’ training, and valuing trainers, that we expect education bodies and providers to meet. Where our standards are not met, we can and we will take action. Despite these areas of concern, the survey findings highlight a tremendous amount of high-quality training that’s taking place across the UK. The high regard doctors have for their training, and those who provide it, is clear.”