Poll: Will a reduction in doctors' training give you less confidence in them?
Leading doctors have warned that plans to shorten medical training in the UK could compromise patient safety.
They claim there is a lack of evidence for proposals which could lead to the training time to become a consultant reducing from between eight to 10 years to between six to eight years.
The British Medical Association said there were concerns doctors would not be able to reach the necessary level of expertise as at present.
The independent Shape of Training review, chaired by Professor David Greenaway of the University of Nottingham, looked in to specialist doctor training.
It made a number of recommendations in its final report, including the shortening of training and change to doctor registration.
A BMA spokesman said: "Changes affecting the future medical workforce cannot and should not be rushed.
"The Government need to listen to the concerns raised by the BMA and other stakeholders now that the report is out."
"The quality of future patient care is on the line - these changes need to be right, not rushed. That's what many experts in medical education believe and we agree."
Dr Ben Dean fought for publication of minutes relating to a series of meetings between Professor Greenaway and the Department of Health that were not documented in the final report.
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme there were "potential influences" on the review that were not transparently documented in the paperwork.
"We (doctors) very much embrace change we feel is in the best interests of the profession and patients.
"Without doing anything to improve training quality, cutting training time is potentially harmful, particularly if you devalue what it means to be a consultant.
"There is also the potential of deskilling creep. The consultants do train the trainees so if the consultants are less skilled, then there may be a knock-on deskilling effect."
