Junior doctor training at Caithness General suspended

The General Medical Council has been monitoring training at Caithness General since March

The training of junior doctors at Caithness General Hospital in Wick has been temporarily suspended.

It follows the resignation of a senior member of staff who helped in supervising the trainees.

NHS Highland and NHS Education for Scotland said they had taken the "difficult decision" to halt training.

The General Medical Council said it had "serious concerns" about staffing levels and the safe supervision of the trainee doctors.

A long-term locum consultant physician has left Caithness General.

Four trainee doctors were thought to be due to start at the hospital.

'Ongoing concerns'

NHS Highland and NHS Education for Scotland said alternative arrangements were being made so training could be resumed at the 74-bed hospital.

In a statement, the organisations said: "Senior staff are necessary, not only to provide clinical care, but also to provide the quality and continuity of clinical supervision that is required for the very junior doctors in training that are placed there.

"As a result, Foundation Year Two trainees, who were due to commence at Caithness Hospital today, will now be reallocated to another training location.

"The hospital will continue to have non-training junior medical staff and locum consultants, and will continue to benefit from clinical support from Raigmore Hospital in Inverness and the wider NHS Highland board area."

The GMC has been monitoring Caithness General since March because of "serious concerns about training".

Chief executive Niall Dickson said: "We therefore fully understand the decision by NHS Education for Scotland and NHS Highland to remove all doctors in training from the hospital on a temporary basis.

"It reflects ongoing concerns in particular about the impact of staffing levels on the safe supervision of these doctors in both medicine and surgery."

He added: "Patient safety must be the primary concern of everyone involved and we will work with all our partners to make sure a safe and sustainable solution is found both for patients and the doctors who care for them."