More paediatricians are needed to deliver safe services to children, according to the latest biennial workforce census.
The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) has found that there has only been a modest growth rate of consultant paediatricians working in the UK between 2005 and 2007 meaning that the speciality of paediatrics remains hard-pressed.
The biennial workforce census (‘Developing the Workforce for Children’) enables the RCPCH to obtain detailed and accurate data of the paediatric workforce, which is used by the Department of Health Workforce Team in determining future manpower for service delivery for children and families.
There are currently around 3,000 consultant posts and the RCPCH believes that there needs to be an increase to 6,000 posts to deliver the best and safest service to children and their families.
Dr Simon Lenton, Vice President for Health Services, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health said: “We have also found that there has been a worrying decline over the past two years in the number of academic paediatricians (fall of 8.4%). These doctors produce the science and research that provides the foundation for evidence-based medicine and they train the medical students who become tomorrow’s doctors.”
The College is working closely with the Department of Health to ensure that the right types of jobs are created in the right places, so that health services for children are safe, accessible, and sustainable.
In the latest census, the number of career grade community paediatricians has fallen from 1363 in 2005 to 1313 in 2007. There was also only a 2.3% increase in the total career grade workforce working in the UK between 2005 and 2007.