Coulter demands the immediate scrapping of “modernising medical careers fiasco” by Government
Ulster Unionist Health Spokesman Rev Dr Robert Coulter MLA today called on the Government to abandon what he termed “the fiasco of their failed Modern Medical Careers scheme” and revert to the previous method of direct application to hospital trusts. Dr Coulter also called for the expansion of doctor training posts throughout Northern Ireland so that 400 of the brightest and best doctors in the country are not lost to patient care in Northern Ireland.
“There have been so many horrendous problems associated with the government’s Modernising Medical Careers initiative that I believe the only proper course of action is to scrap it in its entirety and revert to the previous method of recruitment. This is not something which can be patched up. It needs to go and go now.”
“This scheme will lead to 400 doctor redundancies among junior doctors in Northern Ireland alone. Each junior doctor takes at least £250,000 to train. In losing 400 doctors we will be wasting a £100 Million investment of public money, let alone the damage we will be doing to patient care. We should not be getting rid of doctors – we should be getting rid of administrators and the target driven bureucracy.”
“I know that many junior doctors are considering leaving the country, going to Australia, New Zealand and Canada and that many are considering leaving medicine altogether. That would be a national tragedy. I have never known morale in the health service to be as low as it is now.”
“There will have to be a public enquiry into the ratio of doctors to patients and the ratio of nurses to patients in our hospitals and this must be compared to the ratios in similar places like Australia. It is unthinkable that we should be making superbly trained and recently qualified doctors unemployed. Something is very badly wrong.”
“With the restoration of the Assembly and locally accountable Ministers, Northern Ireland should consider scrapping this scheme locally and getting back to some sanity in the training of our doctors and future consultants.”