The Chief Registrar Programme: developing future leaders.

Since 1948, the NHS has developed and evolved to meet patient needs. However, recent times have seen an unprecedented rise in demand, driven by an ever-growing population who are increasingly elderly and comorbid, and an ever increasing expectation as to how advances in healthcare can and should be provided. Since 2012, there has been a steady increase in emergency department 4-hour breaches.1 Terms such as ‘black alert’, indicating that the bed state is at a critical level, have now become the norm. Despite this, the NHS has suffered a fall in funding in terms of proportion of GDP, and this gap is predicted to widen by 2021.2 Innovative ways of utilising staff and resources are necessary for the NHS to continue to evolve and meet patients’ needs. Doctors in training are an integral part of the front line NHS. They have the energy, enthusiasm and expertise to drive and inspire change. However, their morale is as low as it has ever been.3 There are serious concerns expressed regarding the quality of their training and of their ability to maintain a work-life balance with their jobs. They feel alienated by the …