Some of the reports written about the service provided in hospitals imply – sometimes they are true – that certain doctors are insufficiently qualified. It is a well-known fact that one would be wiser not to have an emergency early in July or January because the first line of medical care one encounters in the big teaching hospitals could well involve somebody on the first day of his or her training. We need to rationalise the system so that when somebody is sufficiently ill to require an accident and emergency service, the doctor who treats him will be properly and fully qualified.