Plans are being made for highly skilled NHS specialists to be able to deploy on short operational assignments to places such as Iraq and Afghanistan to provide specialist care to the armed forces.
The Department of Health said that during a three-month operational tour in Iraq or Afghanistan, a reservist will typically deal with more trauma than during fifteen years working for the NHS – as well as learning important skills like leadership, communication, adaptability and teamwork.
The “Sponsored Reservists” scheme is being examined by the Defence Medical Services working with the NHS – in particular with University College London Hospital Trust – to fill vital roles and supplement the large numbers of volunteer reservists working alongside full time military healthcare colleagues in operational theatres. Currently 21% of all healthcare staff caring for the British forces in Afghanistan are NHS reservists.
Dr Brendan McKeating, chairman of the BMA’s Armed Forces Committee said: “The new scheme to supply sponsored reservist NHS specialists might appear to help plug manning gaps in the short-term, but it does nothing to solve the serious ongoing problem of under manning of fully trained military doctors that is being exacerbated by exceptionally high operational tempo and repeated deployments. “The Ministry of Defence’s own figures show that the Defence Medical Services have only half the fully trained doctors they need. The under manning problem is critical and better incentives such as improved pay and conditions need to be urgently implemented in order to retain fully trained, deployable doctors in the military.”
He added:“If NHS staff are used as sponsored reserves they need to receive appropriate training. We would urge caution in sending civilians to operational theatres, such as Iraq and Afghanistan, in the direct line of fire when their training cannot possibly match that of doctors in the regulars or reserves.”
