Government ignored warning of ward chaos
From Mmc
Government ignored warning of ward chaos
Last updated at 10:05am on 8th October 2007
Government officials ignored clear warnings of a crisis that left thousands of doctors in chaos and put patients at risk, it emerged today.
A damning inquiry revealed that bosses in the Department of Health did little or nothing despite being warned of flaws in medical employment a year in advance.
It comes after a summer of unprecedented turmoil in doctors' training, with 33,000 junior medics forced to fight over 23,000 specialist jobs.
Botched reforms left hundreds without a single interview while thousands who did find a job all flooded onto wards on the same day - posing a risk to patient care.
The crisis was compounded by an overly complex internet application service that had to be abandoned, leading to calls for the then health secretary to resign.
Instead Patricia Hewitt issued a humiliating apology and created an independent inquiry led by Professor Sir John Tooke, chair of the Medical Schools Council.
Today his interim report blamed a "whole systems failure" for the disaster. He said: "The situation...was morale-sapping and damaging."
Professor Tooke added: "The principles of the reforms were laudable but they were largely lost in translation, and there were problems with management and governance.
"There is also no doubt that two key risks regarding (application numbers) and the computer selection system were raised, but there was inadequate escalation of these risks or mitigating action taken."
The report found that the policy of reform was unclear, leadership among government and doctors' leaders was weak and warnings were ignored.
As early as July last year senior civil servants were told that the ratio of applicants to jobs was a "red risk" and could be too high, but nothing was done.
In March 2006 they were told that the new £2 million Medical Training Application Service - an online application system that replaced paper CVs - could also cause problems.
It repeatedly crashed before being abandoned in May and Professor Tooke said: "It is clear it did not give adequate recognition for academic achievement and clinical experience."
The inquiry also raises questions over 10,000 extra doctors who applied for jobs from overseas, mainly as part of the Government's "highly skilled migrant programme".
Professor Tooke today called for another radical overhaul of training to overcome the problems. However, the Government's figures show that competition for jobs will be even more intense next year.
The inquiry's recommendations will now go out to consultation until November when final proposals will be drawn up.
