Thousands of doctors are missing from hospitals and GPs’ surgeries during the ‘Winter Crisis’ because they are on jollies to medical conferences at 5 star ski resorts. A Guido probe found doctors are encouraged to book luxury foreign trips deliberately scheduled during the most pressured time of year for the health service. The conferences fulfil mandatory NHS ‘continuing professional development’ (‘CPD’) requirements in the form of lectures and training measured by the hour. But free time is spent skiing and enjoying the apres ski scene in some of the world’s most desirable destinations. Many doctors are allowed to charge their NHS trust for part costs of the trips, effectively subsidising their skiing holidays…

Despite the creaking NHS enduring some of its busiest weeks in decades:

• 500 doctors are on a four night trip to posh Val d’Isere, France this month;
• 80 urologists are on a trip to classy Corvara in the Italian Dolomites at the same time;
• Dozens more medics will miss the ‘Winter Crisis’ to be lectured on ‘expedition medicine’ while skiing in iconic Chamonix this month;
• Dozens more will depart this Saturday for Zurs, Austria, where they will be lectured by NHS consultants from London and Hertfordshire;
• If sunnier climes are required, the Royal College of Physicians is taking dozens of medics to Yangon, Burma, for a ‘communications skills’ course.

As doctors launch campaign after campaign against the government and are increasingly weaponised by Labour, NHS users will be forgiven for asking… Why are they hitting the slopes?