Today, Wednesday 9 September, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) is pleased to launch its #ChoosePaediatrics campaign to help address barriers to recruitment and retention. The context of this year鈥檚 campaign is much brighter in terms of fill rates.
In England we saw a big jump from last year鈥檚 rate of 82.8%, rising to 97.46% in 2020. We had similarly solid fill rates in Northern Ireland and Wales of 93.75% and 95.83% respectively, and a very good showing in Scotland.
This is a huge achievement鈥攁nd we want to build on that success. COVID-19 has put enormous pressure on the NHS, training and working lives. So it is paramount that we support doctors to join, and stay, in paediatrics. We will do this by continuing to support recruitment and retention.
RCPCH鈥檚 Officer for Recruitment, Dr Simon Broughton, says: 鈥淲orking as a general paediatrician, I never know what鈥檚 coming through the door. I get to work with children from one day old all the way up to 17 years old, providing care to them and their families.
鈥淭his month, the new specialty trainees enter paediatrics, meanwhile other trainees are changing roles or finishing training. This is, naturally, a great time to reflect. I get to work with fabulous and caring people, and get to go home mostly with a smile on my face. Paediatrics is a wonderful career.鈥
On Tuesday 1 September, we updated our retention resources to reflect achievements over the past year. For recruitment, we will continue to highlight the benefits of working in paediatrics and encourage trainees and medical students to #ChoosePaediatrics.
In the coming days, we will be releasing inspirational videos, blogs about working in paediatrics, and other activities on social media. Our recruitment campaign video, recorded remotely and featuring a diverse group of paediatricians at many stages of their career, can be found here.
Visit our FAQs to see how we鈥檙e encouraging our members to get involved in this year鈥檚 campaign. For further information, please contact Careers.Campaign@rcpch.ac.uk.