Big drop in doctors training in private sector
By Robin Stride
A huge drop in the number of doctors being trained in the private healthcare sector has been revealed in a new report.
Figures from the Independent Healthcare Providers Network (IHPN) two years ago showed over 4,000 had been trained in private hospitals since 2020 under the Doctors In Training initiative – and it was hoped to considerably increase the number.
But a survey of its members covering the 2022-23 financial year in England found that doctors accounted for only 109 of a total of 11,246 placements which also catered for 5,058 nurses and 6,079 other clinical staff.
The IHPN’s In Train report says a key challenge for the sector now is increasing the amount of junior doctor placements in independent healthcare settings.
In the last financial year, its members reported delivering training for 333 doctors, including 109 placements, of which 69 were made via the Doctors in Training scheme.
The report says: ‘The 69 placements via Doctors in Training represents a potentially significant reduction from the 2020-22 period, when approximately 4,000 trainees undertook training within the sector. While a portion of this change is accounted for by a change in data collection methodology, a more telling contribution is the shift in training – and activity – post Covid.
‘Throughout 2020-21 and into 2021-22, significant volumes of junior doctors worked within the independent sector as a result of the shift in activity within NHS facilities due to Covid. The arrangements made through the national hospitals contract entailed a significant volume of training that would ordinarily have taken place at NHS trusts fall to the independent sector instead.
‘This shift has now been largely reversed as systems revert to business as usual. While the volume of learners within the sector due to pandemic-era arrangements was artificially high, providers are concerned at the drop off in trainees accessing the sector over the past 12 months – particularly given the changing delivery patterns in certain specialties such as in ophthalmology and orthopaedics.’
The IHPN said providers and itself were working on addressing this to smooth the pathway for training within the sector.
It points out that training doctors in the sector presents a number of logistical challenges due to the differences in delivery of care within the sector compared with the NHS: ‘In ophthalmology, for example, specialist providers do not necessarily offer the same range of procedures as would an NHS trust, and so it may be necessary to explore offering split placements between multiple providers in order to give trainees exposure to the complete range of activity that they require to meet their needs.’
The network said it would continue to engage with NHS England, royal colleges and training deaneries to seek ways to increase the number of doctors who are able to access placements in the sector, building wherever possible on the best practice examples already being put in place by providers.
Its chief executive David Hare said: ‘When asked whether they would be willing to offer more placements to NHS doctors, nurses and other clinical professionals in training, members overwhelmingly responded positively, providing the correct support is put in place.
‘Largely, the support needs identified are practical rather than financial – administrative support for smaller providers, for example.’