Responding to new guidance from Health Education England on how trainees can be redeployed to meet increased service demands over the winter, David Riding, Chair of the RCSEd Trainees Committee said:
"The pressure on trainees of all specialities to achieve the required competencies for completion of training is ever increasing. Naturally, hospitals' priority is to offer care to all patients who need it in accordance with Department of Health time targets, but this service commitment can often threaten training quality. The short term desire to offer services is often at odds with individual trainees' longer term view of their education and training.
“The recent suggestion that trainees should be withdrawn from training posts to provide services outwith their usual speciality is concerning. In surgery, this would be particularly problematic given that elective procedures are, already, often cancelled during the annual 'Winter Crisis'. We need to avoid a situation where it becomes normal and accepted that training is 'put on hold' in order to fulfill the service requirements of the hospital.
“We are already in a situation where the number of applicants to surgical training is falling. Diminishing the quality of this training will only exacerbate this trend, and ultimately, compromise the long term ability of the NHS to offer safe care to all.
“The RCSEd Trainees' Committee passionately believe that preservation and improvement of surgical training offers the best long term solution to the NHS' ability to manage peak demand. Ultimately, we urge senior surgeons to fight for their trainees to ensure that whatever the context, high quality surgical training is available within their units.”