Overqualified and underused: retention, not reformation, is needed

Salisbury discusses the training needs of physician associates and doctors.1 While the government injects £2.4m into the expansion of the medical workforce,2 a sense of profound discontent spreads among qualified medical professionals.Plans to triple the number of physician associates and shorten medical training to four years, aimed at enhancing productivity,23 overlook the pressing need for adequate training and support for existing doctors. The current situation prevents current doctors from practising at their full potential,4 feeding inefficiencies in the medical profession.The General Medical Council has emphasised the need for better recognition and support for doctors not in training.5 Diversifying the workforce and expanding the scope of paramedical practitioners to handle routine, administrative medical tasks is desirable, but increasing the number of doctors might undervalue their role and thus diminish productivity.The primary problem lies not in the shortage of medical undergraduates but in optimising and streamlining the training of existing graduates.6 Concentrating…
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