BMJ 1995;311:1574 (9 December)

Letters

Present situation is detrimental to patient care

EDITOR,--In their recent postal survey of a representative group of consultant physicians, Hugh Mather and Robert Elkeles identified widespread opposition to the Calman proposals.1 Sadly, 70% or more of respondents admitted to not having recent experience in performing three essential lifesaving procedures and, more disturbingly, 47% of these were unwilling to relearn these skills. This implies that they would have limited ability to teach these procedures to their trainees.

As practitioners in acute specialties, these consultant physicians are presumably responsible for the care of sick patients and the education of their trainees. Most of the respondents (70%) work at district general hospitals and are now presumably buffered from their patients by fewer tiers of trainee staff. If it is accepted that doctors caring for seriously ill patients should be capable of resuscitating them, it is a shame that most of the respondents admit their inability to perform basic lifesaving techniques.

. . . [Full text of this article]


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Relevant Article

Attitudes of consultant physicians to the Calman proposals: a questionnaire survey
Hugh M Mather and Robert S Elkeles
BMJ 1995 311: 1060-1062. [Abstract] [Full Text]

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