Bio-terrorism: Doctors angry at shortage of training for chemical attack

Hundreds of doctors will be trained to examine their patients for early signs of a biological or chemical attack on Britain as part of attempts to strengthen home defence.

But doctors' leaders have protested that the Department of Health scheme is too small because less than £15,000 is to be spent on training staff from 300 primary care trusts in the country.

About 50 public health experts from across the country will be trained by the Royal College of General Practitioners to teach their GPs to look for evidence of unusually severe or rapid fevers, rashes and spots.

Dr Maureen Baker, the Royal College's honorary secretary, said this was a good start but warned the country's 30,000 GPs needed far better training on detecting civilian casualties. There had not been "sufficient attention focused on GPs and frontline professionals" she said.

Her complaints will intensify pressure on Alan Milburn, the Health Secretary, to increase his £98.5m budget on preparing for chemical, biological and radiological attack.

Following the discovery of the poisonous chemical ricin in a Paris railway station last week, fears of a terrorist attack in retaliation for the war on Iraq are running high.

Senior MPs on the public accounts committee are preparing to publish a highly critical report early next month on the failure of NHS executives, hospital and ambulance trusts to plan properly for a major terrorist incident. Their criticisms are based on a damning report by the National Audit Office, the Government's influential spending watchdog, which last November found widespread "deficiencies" in NHS readiness for a major incident.

Sir John Bourne, the head of the NAO, will underline concerns about his investigation – which found that a third of trusts had not tested their bio-chemical plans and four-fifths had not tested nuclear plans – at an international conference on bio-terrorism to be held on 4 April.

A highly-placed DoH source insisted last night that the NHS was now far better prepared for a major terrorist incident than it had been last year. All NHS chief executives were given until 15 March, eight days ago, to get detailed plans in place.

Although GPs had been sent new information on anthrax, smallpox and chemical attacks, the source admitted training of GPs had been "limited" so far. "We realise this is a medium and long-term goal, and we need to keep awareness raised," he said.