In July, the UK Department of Health (DH) attempted to cut medical errors by introducing 4 days of compulsory, paid shadowing for all newly qualified doctors in England and Wales prior to assuming their new positions at the start of August. But doctors feel shadowing addresses a peripheral problem, and that there are more deep-seated and complex threats to patients' safety. The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) is warning that frontline staff are dangerously overstretched and National Health Service (NHS) acute services are on the brink of crisis. Many in the profession believe 4 days of shadowing will not address the lack of continuity of care and poor cohesion among doctors that has been created by a decade of changes in medical working practices.
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