Cut through the fog of doctor training fiasco
From Mmc
Cut through the fog of doctor training fiasco
Sir, Junior doctors are taking up their appointments today in speciality training after the new recruitment process. Implementation has been chaotic and unfair and has caused months of confusion, stress and uncertainty. Some of our best junior doctors, who deserve the opportunities to become the consultants and general practitioners of the future, have become jobless, and others have been allocated jobs they did not really aspire to. Their trust in the NHS as an employer has been undermined. The failings have lowered the reputation of the profession and its managers. A generation of junior doctors has been scarred and dispirited and dispirited doctors are unlikely to provide the highest quality clinical care. There was a security breach that smacked of incompetent management. Some posts have been left vacant or hastily filled at the last moment. Yet no one has been brought to account for these failings.
The Department of Health, the Confederation of Postgraduate Medical Deans and Modernising Medical Careers developed jointly the new recruitment processes with access to NHS finances, human resources, time and authority. They claim to have consulted widely before this new system was introduced, yet there is good evidence that professional advice was ignored. Many argued that the processes were cumbersome, introduced quickly without adequate piloting and would not reliably identify those with the greatest potential. They were right.
Those responsible at more local levels, some of whom were doctors, have witnessed a series of administrative errors, irregularities and failures of due process, but were unable or unwilling to stop the recruitment.
In the commercial sector those responsible would have been relieved of their duties months ago. We believe that this example has highlighted a dangerous lack of accountability, both in government and the medical profession.
Those accountable for successful projects are content to take the rewards for excellence, yet seem to deny accountability for failings. It is essential for proper management of all businesses in our country that those who have caused disasters are made accountable for their actions. The Tooke Review does not address the issue of accountability.
The General Medical Council has to date adopted an “at arm’s length” approach. The chief executive of the NHS has been asked by many doctors to investigate possible negligent management of the recruitment process and has not yet taken action.
We believe that the chief executive of the NHS should identify those who were responsible for this debacle and hold them to account. The General Medical Council should hold an official and thorough investigation, on a par with the Bristol and Alder Hey inquiries, to examine the extent to which individuals have fallen below the high standards required of doctors in management roles.
Only when accountability is addressed openly can the NHS and the medical profession learn from the mistakes and move on.
DR GORDON CALDWELL, Consultant Physician
DR RICHARD MARKS, Consultant Anaesthetist
DR UMESH UDESHI, Chairman of the Executive, Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association
STEPHEN CAMPION, Chief Executive, Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association
LINDSAY COOKE, Co-ordinator of Mums4Medics
DR MATT JAMESON-EVANS, Specialist Registrar Orthopaedics Co-founder RemedyUK
MATTHEW SHAW, Specialist Registrar Orthopaedics Co-founder RemedyUK
