DoH, BMA disagree over ‘thousands’ of unemployed doctors |
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Wed, 21 Sep 2005 18:05
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LONDON: Thousands of newly qualified doctors in England and Wales might have a problem finding work, the British Medical Association said yesterday.
In a survey conducted last month, the Association found that almost one in ten junior doctors had been unable to find work. It also warned that the shortage of jobs could actually be worse than inferred from this survey of 2,356 newly-qualified doctors.
If the proportion of this survey were to be replicated across the country it would mean thousands were jobless. The situation could force many to go abroad.
The BMA had already warned in July of a similar scenario. The problem was that of supply exceeding demand. The number of medical schools had increased with no corresponding rise in the number of training posts or senior jobs. The influx of newly qualified doctors from overseas has also contributed to the problem.
However, the Department of Health (DoH) denied that the situation was as bad as pictured by BMA. The numbers from the survey could not be relied upon, they argued, saying that it was wrong to assume that ‘thousands’ of newly qualified doctors are jobless, as claimed by the BMA. They point out the DoH recruitment ads that continue every week to advertise job opportunities and new posts.
According to their estimate, there could not be more than 100 young doctors who were unemployed. The DoH also denied that it was recruiting junior doctors from abroad.
It accepted that some junior doctors had left for overseas training; but many of them would return “to continue their career in the NHS”. A large number of newly-qualified doctors hope to work at the NHS.
Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley criticised DoH’s statements and agreed with the BMA view that there was a “need to provide more resources to create senior training posts” in order to create more opportunities for the newly qualified medics.
The BMA’s Junior Doctors Committee did not respond to the remarks by DoH but offered “to work with the government to deal with the problem”.
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