§ Alistair BurtTo ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 5 November,Official Report, column 111W, what restrictions on doctors within the non-consultant grades with potential to become consultants he regards as unnecessary; when he plans to remove these restrictions; and if he will make a statement. [16219]
667W
§ Mr. Hutton[holding answer 19 November 2001]: In order to be appointed to a consultant post in the national health service, a doctor has to have his or her name included on the specialist register. This register lists the names of those doctors who hold the United Kingdom Certificate of Completion of Specialist Training (CCST) or, for doctors trained overseas, enter the UK already possessing qualifications considered by the specialist training authority of the medical royal colleges (STA) to be equivalent to a CCST. There is no provision, in law, for doctors with specialist medical training, but no formal qualification, to enter the register. Similarly, there is no provision for doctors wishing to 'top-up' their specialist training to the required standard by undertaking further training in the UK then to enter the specialist register.
We wish to amend these provisions to provide a route to the specialist register through an 'equivalence of training' provision. A doctor would be assessed by the STA to evaluate whether the sum of his or her training and qualifications, wherever obtained, is equivalent to a CCST in his or her specialty in the UK. This will provide a direct, assessed route to the specialist register while ensuring that standards do not slip and that patient safety is not compromised.
Our aim, subject to consultation and parliamentary approval, is to have the amended legislation in place by summer 2002.