Non-consultant hospital doctors – NCHDs – are doctors in training, who require a significant amount of training time, on the job and through designated training hours, to complete their medical training and equip them to advance to consultant appointments. It is also appropriate that all doctors receive continuing medical education – CME – in order to stay abreast of new developments and for the purposes of competence assurance.
As the Deputy may be aware, an appraisal of medical education and training will be a key aspect of the work of the forthcoming national task force on medical manpower. Among the issues which the task force will be asked to examine are the recommendations of the forum on medical manpower and the national joint steering group on the working hours of non-consultant hospital doctors.
These include a training strategy for each hospital, the development of training partnerships with UK and US hospitals and the accreditation of training placements abroad. The task force will also examine proposals for increased opportunities for continuing medical education and continuing professional development in modular form and the development of joint strategies for delivery of CME and CPD involving employers and training bodies.