The problems with the Shape of Training review of postgraduate medical training become more and more obvious by the day. Today the BMA has released a joint statement on Shape calling for the powers that be to reject the review in its current form:
"We therefore reject the current direction of travel for Shape of Training"
The bottom line remains that the public have never been adequately informed or engaged in the review, and they should have been. The most important thing is maintaining high quality patient care, for a number of reasons Shape threatens to undermine quality in the name of creating a compliant and flexible workforce. This appears fundamentally driven by the interests of employers and not the public.
The evidence review was flawed, the review's recommendations are regressive and potentially extremely dangerous from a patient safety perspective, trainees have not been involved, in fact the profession has not been adequately consulted or involved. The GMC refused my Freedom of Information request pertaining to the documentation of secret meetings involving Ministers and the review's Chair, as did the Information Commissioner. I have been fortunate enough to recently be vindicated in court and the GMC were therefore ordered to release the withheld documents to me.
The sad thing in all this is that who is looking out for transparency and the public interests? Just who is everyone serving in all this? My personal battle is simply to ensure that all the information reaches doctors and the public, they both deserve to be fully informed of the direction of travel that is being proposed and those running the review should listen to their opinion, not steam roller these potentially dangerous recommendations through against the public interest.
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