Can Defence be assured that future civilian specialty training programmes will produce suitably qualified and experienced military doctors?

Abstract

UK Defence’s doctors receive the majority of their pre-accreditation clinical training within the National Health Service’s (NHS) specialty training programmes. These are designed primarily to serve the needs of a civilian patient population and are undergoing changes. Examination of these changes in relation to the training requirements of Defence’s doctors, suggests that future NHS training programmes present both opportunity and threat to the provision of competent military consultants and general practitioners (GPs). Opportunity to more easily integrate military-specific courses, experience and modules will be present in the form of curricula that are more receptive to change and more flexible with respect to time out of programme. This offers definite advantage in terms of ability to robustly equip military doctors with the skills required to serve their future patients. Narrowing scopes of practice and a reduction in acute care exposure for GPs are potential future threats.