Young doctors alienated by clipboard culture

Young doctors are alienated from the managerial culture of the NHS and only their commitment to their patients is preventing them from leaving medicine, according to a study.

Growing pressure from managers with clipboards who treat them as "technical monkeys" and demand increased work rates is eroding their ability to provide caring, compassionate medicine, the report from the British Medical Association says.

The study, based on detailed interviews with small groups of doctors aged under 40 around the country, found the growing need for doctors to measure and account for their clinical actions meant they felt less in control and undermined their sense of vocation.

Isobel Allen, of the Policy Studies Institute and author of the report said: "Many were resisting what they saw as a managerial takeover which threatened their values and practice."

She added that doctors did not see themselves as "god-like figures" but equally did not want to be treated by their patients as "proprietors of a pizza parlour to be called up at any time of the day and night".