The scenario: You want to become an academic paediatrician. You undertake the necessary training and postgraduate examinations, and obtain a National Training Number (NTN). You then obtain a university-funded Clinical Lecturer post, at the end of your Specialist Registrar (SpR) “core training”. Interestingly, there has been a marked 25% reduction in Clinical Lecturer posts in the past five years.¹ Despite the attached clinical commitments, the post would hopefully provide valuable laboratory based research, ultimately leading to a higher degree.

First problem: The post is in a different deanery and does not have an attached NTN. Over 15 months later, 69 extended letters (including multiple copies), and marked “external” pressure from both former and current deaneries, you eventually manage to transfer the NTN. The apparent lack of communication between the deaneries, the uncertainty over the NTN transfer, and personal “turmoil” over moving residence and starting in the vastly different world of laboratory science, cause intense personal anxiety. Despite the introduction “Calman” scheme in Paediatrics in 1996² and the potential for inter-deanery transfers, it appears easier to move …