The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 270 No 7234 p140
1 February 2003

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News summary

No cows are sacred in shake-up for medical training

A groundbreaking review of the way doctors are recruited and trained shows that the Government is willing to challenge accepted norms for training in the health professions.

The medical royal colleges have agreed that postgraduate training for doctors should be modernised and, in some cases, shortened in order to meet the needs of the National Health Service for more consultants. There is also to be a Postgraduate Medical Education and Training Board to oversee the royal colleges' regulation of consultant training and to improve the quality of training. Practical solutions for cutting doctors working hours to meet legal limits are expected to include letting other staff take on some doctors' roles.

The General Medical Council regulates undergraduate medical education and, until now, the medical royal colleges have regulated postgraduate training themselves with no external oversight.

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society regulates undergraduate pharmacy training, but there is currently no regulator for postgraduate pharmacy training.