Telegraph’s Junior Doctor Isn’t

After the Telegraph found a junior doctor who was prepared to endorse the new NHS England contract being imposed on his colleagues by Jeremy Hunt (the former Culture Secretary), the established part of the Fourth Estate wasted no time in singing the praises of Adam Dalby. The Sun lifted his article. Dalby even got a mention in the Guardian. But nobody stopped to look at his background first.

What, not even one supportive junior doctor?

What was his specialism? Where might one find him tending to the walking wounded in A&E? Was he a budding consultant or GP? Did he have experience of theatre surgery? One concerned Zelo Street reader drew a blank on all of those questions, and further investigation showed that Adam Dalby’s CV is rather short on the one thing one might expect a junior doctor to have - medical experience.

What is worse is that he isn’t practicing or training right now. You read that right: while the Tel says Dalby is “a junior doctor working in Antrim”, his own blog admits that he is on sick leave (another site claims that he is “taking a year out to pursue other interests”. He tells that, apart from politics, “When I return to work I will also blog about my experiences of working within the National Health Service – a great institution in need of great reform”.

That CV talks of his “clinical diagnostic skills and background in leadership excellence “, but close examination reveals that there is no general medical experience. Sure, there are his degrees, experience in social media, working with a veterinary practice, a “leadership forum”, founding a number of other groups, and business consultancy. But there is no record of medical experience. So what kind of junior doctor is he?

His blog, once again, provides an answer: “I’m an FY1 doctor, with a huge interest in politics and healthcare policy”. What is “FY1”? Ah well. “FY” stands for Foundation Year: Adam Dalby is in his first year after graduating, but has not yet acquired sufficient experience to be let loose on his own. He’s the kind of doctor you might find “sitting in” with registrars or consultants when you visit the local hospital’s outpatients’ department.

Worse, he appears not to have set out on that road just yet. The Telegraph and Sun have effectively admitted that when they tell “He is shortly to move to Yorkshire, where he will work under the Government’s new contract”. Will work. But not “does work” or “has worked”. But he is an “associate consultant” to “a boutique consulting firm based in Northern Ireland” specialising in “leadership, personal productivity, team productivity, customer service excellence, communication & engagement”.

Moreover, “Adam was the Lead of the Communications/Think Tank Workstream at the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management’s (FMLM) Medical Student Group (MSG) and has previously been the Transitional Lead of the Recruitment and Engagement Workstream”. But he appears to have zero experience as an actual junior doctor.

Did the Telegraph not figure this out beforehand? Or were they so eager to find a doctor who supported Hunt, and was prepared to put his name to an article, that they didn’t bother? I’m sure there’s a perfectly good explanation.