Training delays 'slow route to consultant level'

Doctors are facing delays in completing their training and are taking longer to become consultants and GPs, according to a British Medical Association survey tracking the career paths of 500 medical graduates who qualified in 1995. It found that over half of senior house officers in the study were in their fifth year at the grade, when it should last just two or three years.And one in three junior doctors training in hospital medicine are being blocked in career advancement because of difficulties accessing an approved specialist registrar training programme.A BMA spokesperson said: 'The government can remove bottlenecks by expanding the number of consultant posts, which will lead to more training places being established.'

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