Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

NO-HEADLINE

Liz Hunt
Tuesday 04 June 1996 23:02 BST
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

One in ten junior doctors say that they are forced to do tasks beyond their abilities at least once a week, according to a report by the Audit Commission on hospital medical staffing. Almost a third saw new patients in outpatient clinics without supervision, and 13 per cent said they got no feedback from their consultants on their work in clinics. Juniors were least likely to be supervised during emergency operations out-of-hours and at weekends.

The report reveals enormous variation in working practices in the 112 National Health Service hospital trusts in the survey, comprising 1,500 consultants and 2,000 junior doctors. In a quarter of teams, junior doctors at senior house officer grade were always supervised in theatre. But in another quarter they operated alone at 40 per cent or more of the operations. It also found that in one in three medical and surgical departments junior doctors worked more than the 56 hours allowed under the Government's "new deal".

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in