Hospital bosses have been charging junior doctors £36 for compulsory criminal record checks.

However, after national outrage this week, Epsom and St Helier Hospitals NHS Trust has been forced into a u-turn over the policy.

It followed publicity in national newspapers that some trusts, including Epsom and St Helier, were charging junior doctors for the criminal record bureau checks.

As the doctors move hospitals every six months to gain experience of different branches of medicine they are facing regular bills for the checks.

Dr Ram Moorthy, chairman of the British Medical Association's junior doctors committee said: "We have recently heard of examples where trusts are passing the costs of CRB checks on to junior doctors – this must stop.

"It is unacceptable for junior doctors to be made the scapegoat for penny pinching trusts in financial difficulty. It is difficult to think of another profession where employees are asked to prove that they are not criminals with such alarming frequency never mind being asked to foot the bill."

He said junior doctors should not have to go through checks every six months as it was leading to delays in starting work and leaving hospitals short of staff.

Dr Moorthy said: "Junior doctors understand the need for CRB checks to ensure public safety. But making them complete a new CRB check every time they move post, which can be every six months, is a waste of time and leaves them unable to treat patients until their CRB check is processed. It is high time hospital trusts started to communicate with each other to end this bureaucratic nonsense.”

A spokesman for Epsom and St Helier said “Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust takes the safety and security of its patients very seriously and undertakes CRB checks on all of its clinical staff to ensure that they are suitable to take up their position.

“Until recently, the trust did charge junior doctors for their CRB checks. We are pleased to report, however, that this policy has been repealed, with the trust covering the full cost of all CRB checks.

“It is important to note, however, that the decision to implement the original policy was discussed and agreed by a local negotiating committee made up of consultants and a BMA representative.”