Hewitt admits online job applications confusion

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Original article


Hewitt admits online job applications confusion

By Celia Hall Last Updated: 2:36am GMT 20/03/2007

Patricia Hewitt, the Health Secretary, admitted yesterday that problems with a new online job application system had created "a high degree of insecurity" for junior doctors but refused to apologise for the chaos.

She disclosed that 5,000 extra interviews will be arranged for doctors who had been overlooked in the discredited selection system for consultant training.Andrew Lansley, the Conservative health spokesman, who attended Saturday's protest rally in London, branded the system a "shambles".He said if Miss Hewitt had attended the rally, junior doctors would have told her how years of training, of clinical experience, and academic achievement, were being thrown away.Urging Miss Hewitt to abandon the online system and revert to a conventional application and interview process, Mr Lansley demanded: "Will you just say 'sorry'?" Miss Hewitt sidestepped the question, but told MPs it would be "absurd" to return to the old system, which depended "more on who you knew rather than what you knew".

She insisted the new system was working well in many places and said changes were being made after a review of the problems experienced in some areas.Miss Hewitt said further changes would be made to the application form and the scoring system to improve the process.The junior doctors say the new system does not allow them to set out relevant qualifications and experience, so that the best applicants are not being selected for the right jobs.

As protests mounted from the royal colleges the Government commissioned an independent review and, on its recommendation, immediate action was being taken to improve the process.Miss Hewitt said that as a result of the changes, ministers expected over 5,000 more doctors to be interviewed in round one. She confirmed there were over 32,000 eligible applicants for 23,000 posts.

Details of the new interview programme will be announced later this week.

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