DoH Press Release 16 March 07
From Mmc
Second opportunity for junior doctors
The independent review group, examining the selection process for junior doctors, met for the third time and agreed that round one should continue and that changes should be made to strengthen the implementation process at each level. The group agreed to set out full details next week for everyone involved in the process.
The review group considered a wide range of evidence and listened carefully to the concerns of the profession and NHS employers. The group is led by Professor Neil Douglas and was set up by the Department of Health on 6 March to examine what improvements needed to be made to the new MMC selection process for doctors applying for consultancy training posts.
The group today made the following recommendations:
All eligible ST3 and 4 applicants will be guaranteed an interview for their first or second choice of training post. (This includes those who have been offered only their third or fourth choice at the moment).
All applicants at ST1 who have not been short-listed for any interviews will have their application reviewed. The operational details of this will be set out next week. However, where candidates meet the selection criteria they may be offered an interview in Round 1. If not, they will be offered career guidance and support to enter Round 2.
All applicants for ST2 who have not been short-listed for interview will be offered a face-to-face review with a trained medical advisor to determine whether they meet the short-listing criteria. Those who meet the criteria may be offered an interview in Round 1. Those who are not selected for interview will be offered career guidance and support to enter Round 2. The Department of Health will now work to implement this next week.
Deaneries across England have said that they have already interviewed many excellent doctors and that the new system is an improvement on the less structured nature of the old system. The GP recruitment continues to work very well with a record number of GPs being recruited into the NHS.
Health Minister Lord Hunt said:
"The recruitment process needs to transparent and fair so that we can get the best doctors trained and be supervised to the very highest standards. I am very grateful for the hard work and cooperation between the review group, the Royal Colleges and the MMC team on some very complex issues. These recommendations are significant improvements to the process and will mean over five thousand more doctors will be interviewed and considered for selection.
"Consultancy posts are much sought after which is why we have more applicants than posts. This will lead to some young doctors being disappointed they can't specialise in their first choice but this has always been the case. The NHS still needs doctors and they have vital skills that can be put to good use elsewhere."
FOR MEDIA ENQUIRIES, PLEASE CONTACT THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH ON 020 7210 5221 OR RING THE OUT OF HOURS DUTY PRESS OFFICER ON 07050 073581
NOTES TO EDITORS
1. The Review group today made the following recommendations:
All eligible ST3 and 4 applicants will be guaranteed an interview for their first or second choice of training post. (This includes those who have been offered only their third or fourth choice at the moment). All applicants at ST1 who have not been short-listed for any interviews will have their application reviewed. Where candidates meet the selection criteria they may be offered an interview in Round 1. If not, they will be offered career guidance and support to enter Round 2.
All applicants for ST2 who have not been short-listed for interview will be offered a face-to-face review with a trained medical advisor to determine whether they meet the short-listing criteria. Those who meet the criteria may be offered an interview in Round Those who are not selected for interview will be offered career guidance and support to enter Round 2.
These recommendations will be subject to an equality impact assessment before being implemented.
The Post Graduate Medical Education and Training Board (PMETB) is responsible for approving the curricula of each medical specialty. These are five-seven years long. ST1 represents the first year of specialty training, ST2 the second, ST3 the third and ST4 the fourth.
2. The review of the MMC was announced on 6 March. Professor Neil Douglas, Vice President of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges is leading the review that involves the medical Royal Colleges, the BMA and NHS Employers. The Review was set up to understand what has worked and not worked to date, to identify and promote good practice, to recommend action to remedy any weaknesses, taking account of legal and operational constraints, to identify specifically what further action or guidance is required and to develop improved arrangements for the support and care of applicants.
3. The Group also reviewed data on the numbers of training places and the competition ratios. It recommended that this information should be made available immediately for candidates on the MTAS website. http://www.mtas.nhs.uk
5. The four UK Health departments have identified over 23,000 training posts in the UK, and will be working with employers over the coming week to confirm how many are available through MTAS:
Training Posts 2007:
UK - over 23,000
England - over 19,000
Devolved administrations - over 4,000
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