Responding to Alan Johnson’s announcement1 of a “Sponsored Reservist” scheme, Dr Brendan McKeating, Chairman of the BMA’s Armed Forces Committee said:

“The new scheme to supply sponsored reservist NHS specialists might appear to help plug manning gaps in the short-term, but it does nothing to solve the serious ongoing problem of under manning of fully trained military doctors that is being exacerbated by exceptionally high operational tempo and repeated deployments.

“The Ministry of Defence’s own figures show that the Defence Medical Services have only half the fully trained doctors they need2. The under manning problem is critical and better incentives such as improved pay and conditions need to be urgently implemented in order to retain fully trained, deployable doctors in the military. “

He added:

“If NHS staff are used as sponsored reserves they need to receive appropriate training, so that they can work in a fully integrated way with regulars and reservists who have already been deployed.

“We would also urge caution in sending civilians to operational theatres, such as Iraq and Afghanistan, in the direct line of fire when their training cannot possibly match that of doctors in the regulars or reserves. It is for this reason that in the past, similar initiatives using civilian locums have been tried and failed. “

Notes:

1 In a speech to senior NHS managers and Reservist healthcare personnel this evening at the Imperial War Museum, Manchester, Health Secretary Alan Johnson will highlight how the "Sponsored Reservists" scheme - which allows personnel with key skills to deploy for short periods without a regular role in the Reserve Forces - is being developed to support the Armed Forces in specialisms where there are particular pressures, such as intensive care, emergency medicine and
neurosurgery.

2 There remains a shortfall of 47% in fully trained, deployable doctors. The deficits in trained strength are felt most in crucial specialties such as surgery (50% shortfall), general medicine (45% shortfall), psychiatry (54% shortfall) and rehabilitation medicine (58% shortfall) reference. (Data supplied by MOD. Figures as at 1 April 2007)

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Gordon Fletcher
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Email: gfletcher@bma.org.uk

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