Doctors object to a wider role for surgical care practitioners

Junior doctors have warned that allowing nurses, therapists, and technicians to perform basic surgical procedures would jeopardise patients' safety and diminish training opportunities for trainee surgeons.

At an annual conference for junior doctors held last week, delegates urged the BMA to oppose a new policy that would formalise the role of surgical care practitioners. The trainees believe that a political drive to cut costs and waiting lists underlies the proposals regarding such practitioners, which a conference resolution portrayed as “a misguided attempt by government to reach its arbitrary targets and to trick patients into …