NHS doctors can work in independent treatment centres, UK health minis
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《英国医生杂志》
NHS doctors will be allowed to work in independent treatment centres once they have fulfilled their contractual obligations to the NHS. Patricia Hewitt, the UK secretary of state for health, made the announcement at the annual conference of the BMA in Manchester this week.
In addition, doctors in specialties without shortages who want to work full time for independent treatment centres will be allowed to leave the NHS and take up their new post without having to wait six months. Until now, this practice has been banned to safeguard staffing levels in the NHS. The "six month rule" will be retained for doctors in specialties with a shortage, such as radiology, however.
The change in regulations on treatment centres means that doctors will be able to work in them after they have offered the first four hours of additional work to the NHS and have approval from the their NHS employer.
The change in policy was welcomed by Paul Miller, chairman of the BMA's consultants committee, who believes that it will help to improve the care offered by independent treatment centres. "It doesn't make sense to fly in doctors from around the globe for a fortnight when NHS doctors, who understand the system, are able to work. Allowing NHS doctors to work in treatment centres is a win for both doctors and patients. It creates another earning stream for doctors, and having NHS consultants in there will raise the standards of care," he said.
Patricia Hewitt, the UK secretary of state for health, addresses the BMA annual conference
Credit: BRUNO VINCENT/GETTY
Representatives greeted the announcement with polite murmurs despite many having been critical of treatment centres and seen them as a threat to local NHS services in the past. Dr Miller admitted that creating treatment centres was not the BMA's favoured means of increasing capacity in the NHS but acknowledged that the government had chosen to pursue this route. It may have been more appropriate to treat more patients in existing NHS facilities using NHS doctors and paying them for their extra time, he said.
Ms Hewitt renewed the government's commitment to stand by targets set on treatment times in emergency departments and in other specialties, such as orthopaedics. Jennie Blackwell, a doctor from northwest England and a member of the Junior Doctors Committee, pleaded for the secretary of state to reduce the target to treat 98% of patients within four hours of arriving in the emergency department.(Zosia Kmietowicz)
In addition, doctors in specialties without shortages who want to work full time for independent treatment centres will be allowed to leave the NHS and take up their new post without having to wait six months. Until now, this practice has been banned to safeguard staffing levels in the NHS. The "six month rule" will be retained for doctors in specialties with a shortage, such as radiology, however.
The change in regulations on treatment centres means that doctors will be able to work in them after they have offered the first four hours of additional work to the NHS and have approval from the their NHS employer.
The change in policy was welcomed by Paul Miller, chairman of the BMA's consultants committee, who believes that it will help to improve the care offered by independent treatment centres. "It doesn't make sense to fly in doctors from around the globe for a fortnight when NHS doctors, who understand the system, are able to work. Allowing NHS doctors to work in treatment centres is a win for both doctors and patients. It creates another earning stream for doctors, and having NHS consultants in there will raise the standards of care," he said.
Patricia Hewitt, the UK secretary of state for health, addresses the BMA annual conference
Credit: BRUNO VINCENT/GETTY
Representatives greeted the announcement with polite murmurs despite many having been critical of treatment centres and seen them as a threat to local NHS services in the past. Dr Miller admitted that creating treatment centres was not the BMA's favoured means of increasing capacity in the NHS but acknowledged that the government had chosen to pursue this route. It may have been more appropriate to treat more patients in existing NHS facilities using NHS doctors and paying them for their extra time, he said.
Ms Hewitt renewed the government's commitment to stand by targets set on treatment times in emergency departments and in other specialties, such as orthopaedics. Jennie Blackwell, a doctor from northwest England and a member of the Junior Doctors Committee, pleaded for the secretary of state to reduce the target to treat 98% of patients within four hours of arriving in the emergency department.(Zosia Kmietowicz)