Junior doctors oppose idea of new non-consultant grade

The Junior Doctors Committee has called on the BMA to resist the establishment of a non-consultant career grade open to doctors who have passed their certificate of completionof specialist training.

At its meeting last week the JDC unanimously agreed that such a post would downgrade the medical profession.

Miss Fiona Kew, a specialist registrar in obstetrics and gynaecology in Middlesbrough and responsible for hours of work and manpower on the JDC, said that the idea seemed to come from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists as a solution to the crisis in the specialty—nearly 400 specialist registrars will never get a consultant post in the specialty in Britain. In a paper for the committee, Miss Kew said that the intention seemed to be to allow a greater proportion of care to be provided by fully trained doctors. That was an admirable intention, but this was not the way to do it.

She said that the proposal would change fundamentally the way that care was provided in the NHS, with a move towards consultants as chiefs of …