This is a timely call for the standardisation of the training for and the provision of immediate care. The current situation – that such a fundamental service consists of a plethora of providers and skills funded, in the main, through charitable means – is scandalous. Standardised training leading to a quality assured service is in the best interests of patient safety.

The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) stance is that there must always be a role for doctors in the provision or immediate and unscheduled care, and that all practitioners involved in such care be appropriately trained to national standards. The authors’ call for regulation leading to the …