In Britain’s health service a consultant is the senior career post for a fully accredited specialist. He or she normally sees patients referred by general practitioners – hence the historical term ‘consultant’ – or emergency cases admitted direct to hospital. NHS consultants are also allowed to do a certain amount of private practice if they wish. After quali?cation and a two-year period of general supervised training, doctors enter onto a specialist training scheme, working in hospitals for 5–8 years before being accredited; many also do research or spend some time working abroad. All must pass dif?cult higher examinations. In 2004, the number of consultant hospital medical and dental sta? in Great Britain was 30,650 (some of these worked part-time, so the whole-time equivalent [w.t.e.] ?gure was 25,640). The total number of hospital medical and dental sta? was 86,996
(w.t.e. 78,462).
n. a fully trained specialist in a branch of medicine. In Britain, consultants are responsible for the care of patients within a distinct specialty, usually in hospital wards, but they are allowed to opt for some sessions in private practice in addition to any National Health Service commitments. After completion of the *Foundation Programme and (from 2019) the Internal Medicine Training programme doctors continuing in hospital service undertake further training as specialty registrars in their chosen specialty. When a specialty registrar has successfully completed a defined college or faculty specialist training programme, he or she is awarded a Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT) and is eligible to apply for a consultant post. See also Doctor.
(CHP) a consultant within *Public Health England who is responsible for the surveillance, prevention, and control of communicable disease and noncommunicable environmental exposures. While no longer the preferred term, the older form Consultant in Communicable Disease Control (CCDC) is still sometimes used. See also public health consultant.... consultant in health protection
(FCE) the time a patient spends in the care of one consultant in one health-care provider. If a patient is transferred to a different hospital provider or a different consultant within the same hospital, a new FCE begins. In *hospital episode statistics an FCE is commonly referred to as simply an ‘episode’. A *spell may consist of several episodes. See also continuous patient pathway.... finished consultant episode
(in Britain) a medical consultant with postgraduate training in public health. Formerly known as community physicians, such consultants undertake public health functions, either as *Directors of Public Health in local authorities or as consultants in public health in local authorities, *Public Health England, or elsewhere. See also public health specialist.... public health consultant
Health Encyclopedia