Junior Doctor Training Suspended in Caithness

NHS Highland has temporarily suspended training junior doctors at one of its hospitals.

Caithness General Hospital has been monitored by the General Medical Council (GMC) - the body responsible for doctor registration - since March because of serious concerns'' over training.

The health board said the decision had been taken following the resignation of a long-term locum consultant physician at the Wick hospital.

It said: NHS Highland and NHS Education for Scotland have made the difficult decision to temporarily suspend training junior doctors in the hospital pending the implementation of a new service model that can guarantee continuity of quality and supervision.

Senior staff are necessary, not only to provide clinical care but also to provide the quality and continuity of clinical supervision that is required for the very junior doctors in training that are placed there.''

Trainees who were due to start at the hospital will be relocated while it will continue to use non-training junior doctors and locum consultants.

NHS Highland said it is currently reviewing its activity in the hospital in light of this decision to ensure that it continues to maintain patient safety as its first priority''.

Niall Dickson, chief executive of the GMC, said: Caithness General Hospital has been subject to our enhanced monitoring process since March this year because of serious concerns about training -concerns which can affect patient safety.

We therefore fully understand the decision by NHS Education for Scotland and NHS Highland to remove all doctors in training from the hospital on a temporary basis.

It reflects ongoing concerns in particular about the impact of staffing levels on the safe supervision of these doctors in both medicine and surgery.

Patient safety must be the primary concern of everyone involved and we will work with all our partners to make sure a safe and sustainable solution is found both for patients and the doctors who care for them.''