Shortage of trainees threatening patient safety

27 August 2010

A DOCTORS’ union has warned that the ongoing shortage of junior doctors is threatening patient care and safety.

The BMA’s Junior Doctor Committee in Northern Ireland said the medical workforce is short of around 86 trainees, with emergency medicine, paediatrics and surgery among the worst affected.

Committee chairman Dr David Farren spoke out as around 200 new foundation grade doctors took up their posts in Northern Ireland.

He said the shortage is likely to get worse: “The BMA estimates that the shortage of junior doctors will rise to around 120 by February, with this shortage potentially forcing trusts to withdraw services.

“We have already seen this happen and junior doctors have been unfairly labelled as the instigators of the withdrawal of services. This is quite simply not the case as junior doctors are allocated where they will work by the Northern Ireland Medical and Dental Training Agency (NIMDTA)”.

He added: “The bottom line is that there are not enough junior doctors working in Northern Ireland. This needs to be properly tackled to ensure that safe care is delivered to patients in the future”.