FIGURES obtained by the British Medical Association (BMA) revealing that three quarters of medical specialities faced doctor shortages last year highlight the severity of the recruitment and retention crisis in the NHS.

The North-East experienced some of the lowest fill rates in some areas of medicine in the country. Training posts in areas of medicine such as psychiatry, emergency medicine, and intensive care medicine, are worryingly undersubscribed.

This is a real concern for patient care today, but it also affects access to highly trained doctors in specialist services in the future.

High vacancy rates also place considerable pressure on those existing doctors that have to make up for the staffing shortfall within their speciality. Brexit poses a new risk to staffing levels, with almost half of EU doctors considering leaving the NHS following the referendum result.

With the NHS at breaking point the government must invest in attracting and retaining doctors, particularly to those areas of medicine that are struggling to recruit, so patients are not subject to variations in access to specialist care and the morale of existing NHS staff is not further weakened.

Dr Gary Wannan, BMA child and adolescent psychiatrist and BMA mental health policy lead