Andy Burnham demands doctors given more rigorous testing

Doctors' skills should be checked as often as airline pilots' to ensure they can perform under pressure as well as Captain Chesley Sullenberger, Health Secretary Andy Burnham said today.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Mr Burnham said the safety culture of the airline industry where pilots are assessed around 100 times during their careers should act as a beacon of good practice that should be applied to medicine.

Around 3,000 doctors are to test a new system of appraisals, which will see their skills assessed every five years to ensure they are still competent to practise.

Like Capt Sullenberger, who saved the lives of all his passengers after ditching his plane safely into the Hudson River, doctors' decisions "quite often spell the difference between life and death", Mr Burnham said.

He wrote: "It's therefore something of an anomaly that whilst airline pilots will be assessed about 100 times during their careers, doctors currently have no formal assessment of their competence or performance from the point of entering practice to the day they retire.

"Many people will be surprised to hear this, and most would agree this needs to change.

"A stronger assessment system will not only improve safety and boost public trust in doctors, it will also give all doctors the structure to develop and improve their skills throughout their careers."