NHS medical grades before the introduction of Modernising Medical Careers

NHS England did not have the information requested.

Dear NHS England,

This request is in regards to the medical career grades/titles prior to the 2005 Modernising Medical Career changes implemented by the Department of Health.

If a doctor held the title 'Psychiatric Admitting Officer' at a hospital for acute mental health problems would that doctor need to be have certain qualifications and training to hold that title e.g. having completed several years as a Specialist Registrar or be a Consultant Psychiatrist? Or could a 'Psychiatric Admitting Officer' be a doctor that is a Senior House Officer (SHO), or in the early stages of Specialist Registrar training, that has responsibility for admitting patients?

I understand that doctors, before 2005, were required to complete 1 year as a Pre-registration House Officer then at least 2 years training as a SHO in various branches of medicine. If a doctor is listed as a 'Locum SHO in Psychiatry' does that mean the doctor has not completed their training as a SHO or could it indicate a doctor has decided to retrain in another field of medicine? I assumed a Locum SHO is a doctor that is on a temporary contract during training and would not have a speciality (e.g. Psychiatry) at this stage however was it common for a doctor to be an SHO in a specific branch of medicine before becoming a Specialist Registrar?

Thank you in advance for any information you can provide.

Yours faithfully,

LJ Brogan

FOI, England (NHS ENGLAND), NHS England

Dear Sir or Madam,

 

Thank you for your communication dated 14 August 2017.

 

NHS England has assessed your communication as a request under the Freedom
of Information (FOI) Act 2000. As such, please be assured that your
request is being dealt with under the terms of the FOI Act and will be
answered within twenty working days.

 

For further information regarding the FOI Act, please refer to the
[1]Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) website. For further
information regarding NHS England and the information it publishes please
visit our website [2]here.

 

If you have any queries about this request or wish to contact us again,
please email [3][NHS England request email] and the message will be
forwarded appropriately. Please remember to quote the above reference
number in any future communications.

 

Please do not reply to this email. This message has been sent from a
central mailbox. To communicate with NHS England regarding Freedom of
Information (FOI) requests, enquiries or complaints we ask these are sent
directly to NHS England’s customer contact centre. This is to ensure all
communications are progressed correctly. Their postal address, telephone
number and email details are as follows:- PO Box 16738, Redditch, B97 9PT;
0300 3 11 22 33, [4][NHS England request email]  .

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Freedom of Information

Corporate Communications Team

Transformation and Corporate Operations Directorate

 

NHS England

PO Box 16738

REDDITCH

B97 9PT

 

Tel: 0300 311 22 33

Email: [5][NHS England request email]

 

‘High quality care for all, now and for future generations’

FOI, England (NHS ENGLAND), NHS England

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

Re:     Freedom of Information request (Our Ref: FOI-054170)

 

Thank you for your Freedom of Information (FOI) request dated 14 August
2017.

 

Your exact request was:

 

“This request is in regards to the medical career grades/titles prior to
the 2005 Modernising Medical Career changes implemented by the Department
of Health.

 

If a doctor held the title 'Psychiatric Admitting Officer' at a hospital
for acute mental health problems would that doctor need to be have certain
qualifications and training to hold that title e.g. having completed
several years as a Specialist Registrar or be a Consultant Psychiatrist?
Or could a 'Psychiatric Admitting Officer' be a doctor that is a Senior
House Officer (SHO), or in the early stages of Specialist Registrar
training, that has responsibility for admitting patients?

 

I understand that doctors, before 2005, were required to complete 1 year
as a Pre-registration House Officer then at least 2 years training as a
SHO in various branches of medicine. If a doctor is listed as a 'Locum SHO
in Psychiatry' does that mean the doctor has not completed their training
as a SHO or could it indicate a doctor has decided to retrain in another
field of medicine? I assumed a Locum SHO is a doctor that is on a
temporary contract during training and would not have a speciality (e.g.
Psychiatry) at this stage however was it common for a doctor to be an SHO
in a specific branch of medicine before becoming a Specialist Registrar?”

 

NHS England does not hold this information.

 

It may help if we explain that the NHS is not a single organisation but is
made up of a range of organisations such as Hospitals, Clinical
Commissioning Groups (CCGs) and Ambulance Trusts. NHS England came in to
being in April 2013 and is responsible for commissioning primary care
services such as GP and dental surgeries, as well as some specialised
secondary care services. Therefore, any recorded information NHS England
may be able to provide in response to an FOI request will generally relate
to the services NHS England commissions subsequent to 1 April 2013. For
information on commissioned services and the types of information NHS
England holds can be found on our [1]website and [2]publication scheme.
For further information on the NHS, its structure and other NHS
organisations please refer to NHS Choices [3]here.

 

Details of this scheme may be available from the Department of Health.
Their website is:

 

·      
[4]https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...

 

We have included their contact information below for your reference:

 

·       Ministerial Correspondence and Public Enquiries Unit

Department of Health

Richmond House

79 Whitehall

London

SW1A 2NS

 

·       Contact form:
[5]http://www.info.doh.gov.uk/contactus.nsf...

We hope this information is helpful. However, if you are dissatisfied, you
have the right to ask for an internal review by writing to us, within two
months of the date of this letter, to:

 

NHS England

PO Box 16738

REDDITCH

B97 9PT

 

Email: [6][NHS England request email]

 

Please quote the reference number FOI-054170 in any future communications.

 

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) can be contacted at:

 

The Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

 

Telephone: 0303 123 1113

Email: [7][email address]  

Website: [8]www.ico.gov.uk

 

Please note there is no charge for making an appeal.

 

Please be aware that in line with the Information Commissioner’s directive
on the disclosure of information under the FOI Act, your request will be
anonymised and published on our website as part of our disclosure log.

 

Please do not reply to this email. This message has been sent from a
central mailbox. To communicate with NHS England regarding Freedom of
Information (FOI) requests, enquiries or complaints we ask these are sent
directly to NHS England’s customer contact centre. This is to ensure all
communications are progressed correctly. Their postal address, telephone
number and email details are as follows:- PO Box 16738, Redditch, B97 9PT;
0300 3 11 22 33, [9][NHS England request email].

   

Yours sincerely,

 

 

Freedom of Information

Corporate Communications Team

Transformation and Corporate Operations Directorate

 

NHS England

PO Box 16738

REDDITCH

B97 9PT

 

Tel: 0300 311 22 33

Email: [10][NHS England request email]

 

Dear FOI, England (NHS ENGLAND),

Thank you for your reply.

Are you able to provide me with the organisation that is able to answer my query? The time frame I am interested in is 2001 - 2005 (pre MMC).

Yours sincerely,

LJ Brogan

FOI, England (NHS ENGLAND), NHS England

Dear Sir or Madam,

Thank you for your email dated 2 September 2017 with regard to your Freedom of Information request reference FOI-054170. Please accept our apologies for the delay in responding to your email.

As outlined in our original response, the Department of Health may hold some information relevant to your request. The Department's contact information is provided in our original response.

We hope that this information is helpful.

Yours sincerely

Freedom of Information

NHS England
[NHS England request email]
0300 3 11 22 33