Letter to Professor Neil Douglas from GAT
From Mmc
Professor Neil Douglas
President
Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh
9 Queen Street
Edinburgh
EH2 1JQ
Thursday 5th April 2007
Dear Professor Douglas,
As you know, the Group of Anaesthetists in Training (GAT) is the sole representative body for trainee anaesthetists in the UK. We have >3,000 members and function as an important part of the Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland. Anaesthesia is the single biggest medical subspecialty in the country and, as a result, trainee anaesthetists form a significant proportion of those involved in both MMC and MTAS. Over the last week, GAT has surveyed its members and, despite the short timeframe, has received a substantial response which we believe accurately reflects the views of our membership. We write to inform you of the results of this survey, as we think that the MTAS Review Group should take the opinions of trainees into account when deciding what actions to take. The simple fact is that >75% of respondents to our survey voted for a new short-listing process based on CVs or for interviewing all candidates for all their four choices. Less than 10% wish to see the process continue along the lines most recently suggested by your Review Group. Faced with this level of opposition to your plans, we write to ask you to reconsider and to listen to the views of those directly and personally affected by the debacle that MTAS has become.
These results confirm the opinion that we have voiced for some time: that to proceed with the current round of interviews in line with the Review Group’s guidelines will disadvantage a significant number of applicants. Those who have already been interviewed without a portfolio or CV have at present no chance of true parity with those currently undergoing interviews. How can interview scores from an early stage in the process be comparable with those conducted now? In addition, we have received reliable information that interviews in different regions are being conducted in very different ways. There are good trainees who have not been short-listed at all and who will now be denied the opportunity to earn more than one interview, thereby potentially cutting their job prospects by 75%. Those who have had, for instance, two interviews must now select which is to be their first choice with little or no idea of their position in the ranking. Trainees are effectively being asked to short-list themselves. Candidates who have secured interviews in two or more countries within the UK face an impossible dilemma. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have adopted an ‘interview all for four posts’ approach. A system that specifically discriminates against applicants for posts in England is illogical, unfair and in need of urgent change.
The deplorable state in which trainees now find themselves is, of course, not solely due to MTAS. The overambitious attempt to restructure medical training and to align it with the university year at all levels within a twelve-month timeframe was clearly doomed to failure. We believe that those who commissioned and instigated Modernising Medical Careers should take full responsibility for this appalling waste of time and resources. We are in no way implying that you were an author of this sorry tale. However, you are now in a unique position to drive changes that will right the wrongs and reverse the injustices. Indeed, we believe that you have a duty both to patients and to the consultants of the future to ensure that this woeful situation is redressed as soon as possible.
The August deadline is approaching with frightening speed. However, we believe that there is yet time to make sure that the right doctors are appointed to the right training posts provided the MTAS matching system is scrapped immediately. There needs to be a rapid and coordinated return to short-listing on merit, with appointments being made on a regional basis. We strongly urge you to listen to the trainees and to act both decisively and quickly. Dr Sara Hunt Dr Chris Meadows
GAT Chair GAT Chair Elect
