How we broke the story
From Mmc
How we broke the story
Last Updated: 1:42am BST 16/05/2007
MARCH 2: The Daily Telegraph reveals that thousands of junior doctors have been left without jobs because the new online recruitment system has gone "disastrously wrong"
MARCH 3: Many junior doctors and their parents contact The Daily Telegraph with details of the chaos that has engulfed the Medical Training Application Service (MTAS)
MARCH 5: Patricia Hewitt, the Health Secretary, meets the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges. In the West Midlands, senior surgeons put their jobs on the line by suspending interviews
MARCH 6: Miss Hewitt announces an immediate review of MTAS
MARCH 9: The Department of Health agrees to give hundreds of doctors who failed to get an interview in the first round of applications a second chance
MARCH 17: Junior doctors stage mass demonstrations to vent their anger about the difficulties crippling the recruitment process
MARCH 19: Miss Hewitt tells MPs the problems with MTAS have created a "high degree of insecurity" for doctors but refuses to apologise
MARCH 23: Around 11,000 junior doctors are offered at least one interview and a guarantee that their CVs will be taken into account
MARCH 30: Prof Alan Crockard, the eminent neurosurgeon who presided over the new system, announces his resignation
APRIL 3: Miss Hewitt finally apologises to junior doctors during a BBC interview for the "terrible anxiety" the problems with MTAS have caused
APRIL 17: She apologises in the Commons for the chaos in the MTAS system
APRIL 25: Channel Four News reveals that security breaches in the MTAS website allow people to access information about junior doctors, including their addresses and sexuality
APRIL 26: A second security breach is exposed which means people can look through applications submitted by junior doctors. The Department of Health announces that MTAS has been suspended
MAY 4: Miss Hewitt looks rattled as she faces the fury of junior doctors during an appearance on BBC1's Newsnight programme
MAY 15: Miss Hewitt announces that MTAS has been abandoned. Junior doctors in the second round of recruitment will be asked to write directly to hospitals
