Breaking up the two year foundation programme for trainee doctors in the United Kingdom will destroy what is seen by many as a ground breaking scheme and which has cost the nation millions of pounds to establish, says a leading postgraduate dean.

Elisabeth Paice, dean director of the London deanery and chairwoman of the UK Conference of Postgraduate Medical Deans, said that splitting up the two years of the programme would put extra strain on trainees who would have to think about applying for specialist jobs just six months after graduating rather than at 18 months under the current system.

Sir John Tooke, dean of the Peninsula Medical School in Plymouth, recommended splitting up the two year programme in his …