Trusts are eroding the time allocated to consultants for supporting professional activities.
Two pieces of research on the time given to consultants to conduct such activities as training, research, audits, teaching and clinical governance, suggest that it’s being compromised in a bid to save trusts’ money and raise ‘productivity’.
A study by the BMA of job adverts reveals that 38% of consultant posts advertised in March had fewer than the minimum recommended SPAs. The 2003 contract suggested that consultants should typically have 2.5 SPAs built into a 10 PA contract. The original allocation was recently re-examined and supported in a position statement by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (AMRC).
BMA analysis of a similar sample from 2009 revealed that only 10% had fewer than 2.5 SPAs.
Furthermore, freedom of information requests from 99 trusts by HSJ reveal a fifth of acute trusts have reduced or plan to cut the time consultants spend on SPAs. A further 15% admit to looking closely at the value provided by SPAs.
A recent leaked document from the Foundation Trust Network revealed that many employers will seek to reduce consultants’ SPAs to one per week within their job plans.
Dr Mark Porter, chair of the BMA’s consultants committee, said: “SPAs are central to patient care. This is the time when consultants reflect on their work and improve the quality of their personal work and that of the teams in which they work.”
BMA Scotland recently won an exchange with NHS Scotland’s management steering group over advice issued to employers saying new consultants should be offered just one SPA.
New consultants are being offered less SPAs by some trusts because they’re perceived to be less involved in management and teaching.
The AMRC disagrees. New consultants should be encouraged to get involved in clinical innovation, management, teaching and training not discouraged, it says. A new consultant is likely to need additional time for orientation and being mentored and may need additional CPD to develop any specialist aspects of the post not adequately covered by training to CCT level.
Stephen Campion, chief executive of the HCSA, said that many trusts don’t understand the importance of time being made available to consultants for supporting activities.
He said: “Diluting SPA time in favour of more clinical activity is damaging to the NHS.
“The targeting of SPA time comes at a time of financial cutbacks, a shortage of trainees and as a consequence of the Working Time Directive. Consultants are being expected to pay the price for these underlying deficiencies. I am concerned that unless trusts recognise the importance of SPA time, as typically provided in the 2003 contract, recruitment, retention and goodwill will be the inevitable casualty.”
Read more on protecting your SPAs.
Tags: Consultant contract, Cuts, Productivity, SPAs
