Doctors could be trained more quickly

Consultants could be qualified sooner

The time it takes a doctor to be fully trained could be cut, a review has suggested.

Reducing the time it takes a doctor to qualify could help the government meet its targets for increasing the numbers of consultants in the NHS.

Medical leaders and the Department of Health have agreed to examine how doctors' training could be streamlined.

They will also look at the way doctors are recruited and employed.

Doctors currently undergo an average of five years postgraduate training in the area they plan to specialise in.

This programme will not only benefit patients but also improve the working lives and career opportunities for doctors

Professor Peter Hutton, Academy of Royal Colleges,

The review, by medical royal colleges who oversee training, and the government, agreed to look at whether training for some specialities could be cut to four.

The British Medical Association said faster training could increase the pool of the highest qualified doctors available to patients.

But it warned the "gold standard" of UK consultants must not be tarnished.

'Patients will benefit'

The review agreed to put more emphasis on doctors' practical abilities and allow more flexible careers.

Professor Peter Hutton, President of the Academy of Royal Colleges, said: "This programme will not only benefit patients but also improve the working lives and career opportunities for doctors."

Health Secretary Alan Milburn said: "Doctors in the UK are amongst the best in the world and they deserve the best possible and most up to date training.

"Greater numbers of doctors and better focused training will benefit patients on the receiving end of better services."

But a spokeswoman for the BMA said it had wanted to bring forward the age at which doctors became consultants, from the current average of 37, for a long time.

"Clearly, there's room for improvement.

"It would be good for patients because we could expand the volume of high expertise that's available, and it would also be good for doctors' careers."

But she added: "The question is how we achieve that whilst maintaining the gold standard of UK consultant training."

'Poorly planned'

Doctors' leaders have claimed that Britain needs 10,000 more consultants.

The government has pledged to recruit 15,000 more consultants and GPs by 2008, but some experts have questioned whether it will reach that target.

Last year, England's Chief Medical Officer Professor Sir Liam Donaldson criticised junior doctor's' training, saying it was often poorly planned, with no defined end.