Doctor numbers threatened by shortage of academics
Plans to boost the number of
doctors working in the NHS are
under threat from a shortage of
medical academics at universities
in the United Kingdom, the
BMA has warned.
There are currently fewer
than 1000 clinical academic doctors
working in the health service,
and 79 professorships at
medical schools are unfilled,
representing a quarter of all
posts funded by the government's
higher education funding
council.
Professor Stephen Tomlinson,
vice chancellor designate of
the University of Wales, told the
BMA's annual conference for
clinical academics that there are
a further 322 vacancies for lecturers
and senior lecturers in
medical schools. Pathology, psychiatry,
and surgery have been
particularly badly hit.
The government has vowed
to increase the number of medical
students by more than a fifth
over the next two years, from
5300 last year to 6500 in 2003.
Politicians from all parties, however,
have so far failed to grasp
the extent of the problem, said
Professor Tomlinson.
According to the BMA,
recruitment problems are the
result of the multiple pressures
put on clinical academics; they
are required to treat patients,
teach students, and conduct
research. Clinical academics
routinely work a 64 hour week:
32 hours for the NHS and 32
for their university.
Professor Janet Finch, vice
chancellor at Keele University,
which is opening one of the new
medical schools, said: "The ability
to recruit enough clinical academics
to teach the new medical
students is my biggest worry."
She called for joint planning
between NHS trusts and the
universities that employ medical
academics and for more flexible
contracts, so that some academics
could concentrate on
teaching while others focused
on research at different points in
their careers.
Dr Colin Smith, chairman of
the BMA's medical academics'
committee, believes that the
recently negotiated annual
appraisal for hospital consultants
offers a ray of hope for hard
pressed doctors. "Both employers
want their pound of flesh so
joint appraisal is an important
opportunity for forcing a recognition
that our workload needs
to be controlled," he said.
Zosia Kmietowicz, London
Email: email
studentBMJ 2001;09:217-260 July ISSN 0966-6494
