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Winter pressures guidance
We are aware that the NHS is facing a winter period with huge demands on acute hospital services and primary care. Under these circumstances maintaining patient safety must be a priority, yet this must not result in a lack of adequate support for training.
One past approach to managing the acute winter workload has been to temporarily redeploy doctors in training. This should never be the preferred method of managing acute pressures, but when there are crisis situations, the guidance provided in our document, Supporting Winter Pressures Safely through Managed Education and Training Programmes describes how this may be achieved in a pre-planned, safe manner with minimal disruption to education and training.
We encourage trusts to be mindful of the mental health and wellbeing of their staff, including doctors in training. Trusts should make every effort to protect the morale of their workforce, and consider how to acknowledge and reward the efforts of their staff at times of extreme pressure.