A DESPAIRING junior doctor has written to Prime Minister Tony Blair to express her anger at a lack of training posts in North-East hospitals.

Dr Clara Russell, 25, from Jesmond, Newcastle, wants to become a GP, but cannot do so until she satisfactorily completes a series of hospital jobs.

Despite an acute shortage of family doctors in the region, Dr Russell's career is on hold because of a lack of suitable hospital placements.

Since she finished a year-long hospital job at Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary on Tuesday, she has been unemployed.

While she expects to take on temporary work as a hospital locum, that does not count towards the training she needs to become a GP.

Her concerns are backed by the British Medical Association (BMA), which is calling on Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt to create more training posts in English hospitals.

The BMA estimates the training posts for senior house officers -doctors who are partway through their training -has fallen by half, leaving several thousand doctors out of work.

In her letter to the Prime Minister, which she has also sent to Ms Hewitt, Dr Russell said: "Do you want the consultants and GPs of tomorrow to commence their careers with no faith in the country's government and the support it should provide for the medical profession?"

She said the problem seemed to be that while the Government had increased places at medical school, there was no corresponding rise in hospital training posts.

Department of Health officials said most junior doctors had got the training posts they needed and that estimates of the number out of work were inaccurate.