UK Government target to recruit 7,500 extra hospital consultants looks doubtful

Main Category: Urology / Nephrology
Article Date: 22 Apr 2004 - 0:00 PDT


Four years ago the UK government promised it would recruit an extra 7,500 hospital consultants by the end of April this year. We will know this Friday how many they have managed to recruit up to December of last year. We will have to wait until June before we know what the total up to the end of April is.

Nevertheless, the figures up to December last year will give us an idea of how many they have probably managed to recruit up the end of April this year.

Everyone is more or less sure they will have fallen short of the target. Some say they could be 1,500 short.

(In the UK, a Hospital Consultant is a very senior doctor in a hospital, usually the head of a department. For example, a Urology Consultant is usually the head Urologist in the hospital, in charge of Urology in the hospital.)

The UK government says it has carried out a wide range of campaigns to try to get those new consultants:

--- They have carried out huge overseas recruitment campaigns

--- In the new NHS contract consultants get extra pay and more favourable working conditions

UK Health Minister John Hutton said "The target we have set for recruiting more consultants is a challenging one, but the final figures for this are not published until July. However there are now 7,300 more consultants in the NHS than there were in 1997. In addition to this we are using the extra capacity provided through the independent sector to get patients treated more quickly."

The British Medical Association urged the government to step up its efforts to recruit the extra consultants.

The British Medical Association said "It is disappointing that the NHS will not reach its target of creating 7,500 new consultant posts by the end of this year. This is a setback but the government must not move away from this aim. It is essential that expansion in consultant numbers continues and improves. This is particularly important considering the implications of the EU working-time directive on junior doctor hours and possible effects of the new GP contract. UK is critically short of doctors - short-term measures like contracting work to private hospitals and treating patients abroad only offer short-term solutions."

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