Juniors missing out on time with consultants

25 June 2010

WORK demands are leaving consultants with less time to carry out tasks such as training junior doctors, the BMA has said.

NHS consultants should have 10 hours per week free, as part of their NHS contract, for Supporting Professional Activities (SPAs). This includes the introduction of new services, research, clinical governance, and training junior doctors.

But a recent UK survey by the British Medical Association of more than 2000 NHS consultants shows they are increasingly using this free time to meet work demands. The survey showed that 21 per cent said the number of SPAs in their job plan had been reduced since they transferred to the new consultant contract in 2004, or since they started.

Only seven per cent said the number of SPAs had increased. More than one in seven (15.1 per cent) said their employer had reduced the standard number of SPAs for all consultants, and almost a quarter (23.8 per cent) said their employer had reduced SPAs for newly appointed consultants.

Dr Mark Porter, chairman of the BMA’s consultants committee, said: “If hospitals cut [time for SPAs], they risk stifling innovation and allowing the NHS to stagnate. This is being driven by the financial pressures we all face, but it’s a false economy, because the new services consultants develop often save the NHS money.”