You remind me of the guy who jumped out of a window, and all the way down kept repeating "so far, so good." Mandating additional slots is easy. I said that before. But filling those slots is the hard part, and keeping those positions filled over the lifetime of the program is even harder.
You ignored this when I posted it before, but once again, I draw your attention to what will happen in the future, as demonstrated by Britain's NHS:
NHS facing 'massive loss' of doctors overseas
The NHS faces “a massive potential loss” of junior doctors overseas due to plummeting morale caused by problems with training and the ongoing dispute over pensions, the British Medical Association has warned.
Dr Ben Molyneux, incoming chairman of the union’s junior doctors’ committee, said a “perfect storm” was eroding the quality of medical training which, with other problems, was resulting in a “brain drain” to countries like Australia, New Zealand and the US.
He said: “Huge numbers are going abroad after their first two years of foundation training.
“Significant numbers go every year and these numbers are increasing.
“Lots do come back but some don’t, and the risk here is there’s a brain drain to elsewhere, if we can’t retain our own workforce.”
The economic climate and the Government’s controversial health reforms had combined to create “a perfect storm for the potential erosion of high quality medical training”, he said.
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One example of problems was trainees in Kent, Surrey and Sussex being denied the chance to do the placements they wanted due to short staffing, he said.
Education and training had been “bolted on” to the Health and Social Care Act, he claimed, “and we are trying to make things fit”.
More and more “home grown” medical graduates were also failing to secure NHS jobs, he said, due to a long-term increase in medical students and a rise in foreign applicants.
He continued: “A recent BMA survey of junior doctors’ career intentions showed that half of those questioned said they were more likely to leave the NHS to work overseas after training compared to two years ago.
“This would represent a massive potential loss to the NHS.
“Continued pay freezes and the raid on doctors’ pensions will further demoralise a profession who face an intense and lengthy training programme.”
To train a medical student for five or six years, to the point they are ready for their first day’s work in hospital, costs the state about £250,000.
Dr Molyneux, a GP trainee, said morale was the lowest he had personally seen it.
“I love my job, but it’s very difficult when confronted day in, day out with another problem," he said
And, as I said before, expansion of the programs doesn't mean that the quality will be maintained. In order to fill those slots, you will end up taking students who wouldn't have made the cut previously. Diminishing standards will lead to inferior providers in the long run. And, as the mandates on doctors increase the pay decreases, you'll have to lower those standards even more as doctors leave the system.
Originally Posted by Odysseus
