BMJ  2004;329:230 (24 July), doi:10.1136/bmj.329.7459.230-c

Letter

Firm foundation for senior house officers

A firm foundation for general practice

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—Gallen and Peile discuss the initiative to modernise medical careers, a concept that could improve the recruitment and retention crisis in primary care by exposing young doctors to general practice.1 This component may, however, flounder owing to a lack of support from deaneries, primary care trusts, and workforce development confederations.

The development of educational supervisors' and associate trainers' roles needs to be encouraged so that doctors in foundation year 2 can have an appropriate and well supported experience in primary care that can enable attainment and proper assessment of the foundation competencies.

Although training and non-training practices are enthusiastic, workforce development confederations and deaneries are not committed to fund training programmes for educational supervisors and associate trainers properly. For many practices, space and accommodation for doctors in foundation year 2 are also issues that need to be dealt with urgently.

Primary care trusts may not yet fully understand . . . [Full text of this article]

Robin Christie, general practitioner

Portmill Surgery, Hitchin, Hertfordshire SG4 9TH robanmel@ntlworld.com


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