Doctors vote for BMA to oppose four year medical degrees and apprenticeships

BMA representatives have firmly rejected proposals for medical apprenticeships and four year undergraduate medical degrees.

The association’s annual representative meeting in Belfast overwhelmingly passed a motion on 25 June declaring that it “abhors attempts to dilute the quality of medical standards in the UK.” It urged the BMA to continue to oppose “scope creep from professions without medical degrees” and to lead on setting out clear boundaries of practice.

The motion called for the BMA to “lobby to end all medical apprenticeship courses or pilot schemes immediately with an option to convert anyone already on such a course to a traditional medical degree.”

It also urged the BMA to maintain its position that a medical degree must be obtained by a traditional route of at least five academic years of medical training …