Urgent action is needed in response to the decline in the number of NHS doctors who are accredited specialists in occupational medicine. A recent meeting of OH practitioners debated solutions to this problem and considered whether OH nurses could take on work previously done by doctors. Dr Siân Williams and Deborah Mathews explain more.
A crisis is looming – the number of doctors choosing to train in occupational medicine is in decline. In 2011, the Faculty of Occupational Medicine (FOM) estimated that to meet the demand for accredited specialists (or consultants), it needed to recruit 37 new specialist trainees each year. However, the annual intake has only been 15. Anecdotal evidence suggests that recruitment of consultants into occupational medicine is already a major problem, particularly for the NHS in London.
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