Thread by @DrDomPimenta

I find this @Telegraph story today the most bewildering story of #Brexit vs #NHS yet. Will Brexit solve staff shortages? @SteveBarclay says yes. The facts say otherwise. /thread.

https://twitter.com/andreajenkyns/status/1025131691944423426

Firstly, what was said and where was it said? The @Telegraph and @lauradonnlee seem to suggest Health Minister @SteveBarclay gave these comments in @christopherhope Brexit Podcast. Here: itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/cho… /1

Now I've listened to this Podcast. My favourite bit is where @christopherhope suggests NHS staff have been "holding back" more British nurses and doctors to protect their wages and their interests. I kid you not. Here is the transcript: /2

And as a novel and offensive suggestion as that is to all of us that have been shouting about the danger of understaffing the NHS for years, no where does @SteveBarclay mention training doctors in less than 5 years. /3

Now there's some confusion about "qualification" and "registration". All undergraduate medicine degrees in the UK are 5 years, some 6. There are a few (<25%) post-graduate degrees that are 4 years long. /4

Once you gain your degree, your qualification, you become "pre-registered" with the General Medical Council for 1 year. The is foundation year 1. You are working the whole time, as a doctor, in a hospital. It isn't "qualifying" in the same way university is. /5

After F1 you become "fully registered" with the GMC. Now the EU in 2013 clarified the previous "basic qualification" for a doctor to be a minimum of 5 years of training or 5500 hours. europa.eu/rapid/press-re… /6

The post-graduate programmes of 4 years include F1 to meet that criteria. This is less than 25% of all British graduates, and most programmes since 2013 have moved to 5 years of university anyway. /7

So the "extra year" @SteveBarclay is referring to is a GMC requirement for ALL UK graduates, who are ALREADY working as doctors. It's a technicality for post-grads to meet EU legislation, but removing it would make NO practical difference. /8

F1's are the most junior members of any clinical team, but they are fully qualified doctors: they see patients, diagnose and treat, run ward rounds and perform procedures. A good F1 will be the bedrock of any hospital team. /9

You couldn't shorten medical degree programmes beyond four years, and most have kept to five years because of the sheer quantity and intensity of the subject anyway. Mine was six years. /10

So in summary, the "extra year" is actually the first year of working as a doctor, is mandated by our own UK GMC anyway to protect patients, and removing it would have no practical impact on staff shortages. /11

In terms of the staff problem we have at the moment, no mention is given to the 96% drop in nurses applying from the EU, or the potential loss of working rights for current EU staff (10% doctors, 4% nurses) in a No Deal Brexit scenario. /12

Not to mention the huge drop in public finances a No Deal scenario, and even a negotiated Brexit, would bring. We are 100,000 staff short in the NHS right now, and that has very little to do with Brexit, and alot to do with 8 years of Tory govt. /13

This wilful dereliction of duty from journalists and politicians alike, is incredibly dangerous. Literally life-threatening for patients in an understaffed and under-resourced NHS. This isn't just a game of "spin". This really matters.
Please be more responsible. /end