The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on training: a national survey of UK anaesthetic trainees
June 2021
For trainees, the impact of dealing with COVID-19 over the last year has been profound. They willingly made sacrifices to their training to support the UK's COVID-19 response. They worked long hours in new and challenging environments, with dying patients, and broke bad news to families, whilst being fearful of bringing the virus back to their own families. Specialist modules were postponed and opportunities to improve personal portfolios abandoned.
This survey of anaesthetic trainees found considerable concerns around the delivery of training
At the same time, social distancing requirements and travel restrictions forced changes to exams and the recruitment process. Already tired and stressed, trainees continued to try and achieve their long-term career goals. This survey of anaesthetic trainees found considerable concerns around the delivery of training, changes to recruitment and to examination format and timetables.
Open letter to the Health Secretaries
The Association of Anaesthetists has sent an open letter to the UK’s four Health Secretaries asking to urgently double the number of training posts for anaesthetists this summer and for subsequent years, so that the UK can safely negotiate the current COVID-19 pandemic, any future pandemics, and deal with the huge backlog of surgical procedures that has built up during lockdown.