Doctors to march in battle over jobs
From Mmc
Doctors to march in battle over jobs
MARTYN McLAUGHLIN March 11 2007
A broad spectrum of Scotland's medical profession is to descend on Glasgow in an unprecedented protest against the controversial new recruitment system for junior doctors.
Senior consultants will march from the city centre to the Western Infirmary alongside junior medics and students to call for an end to procedures they warn are overlooking the most able candidates for interview shortlists.
They are warning the revised process is forcing some of the country's brightest young medics to seek employment abroad, or abandon their medical careers altogether.
advertisementIt comes as officials at Whitehall have admitted the scheme is flawed, and conceded piecemeal changes in the way junior doctors are assessed for positions.
The British Medical Association (BMA) warns the recruitment process is putting the careers of thousands of highly skilled young medics in jeopardy, as they are at risk of "being thrown on the scrapheap by a shambles of a system".
The doctors' main concern is that qualifications and achievements have not been taken sufficiently into account by the new medical training application service (MTAS) during shortlisting and that candidates have not been rated in a consistent fashion.
There are also fears among doctors - highlighted last year by The Herald - that they could be posted anywhere in Scotland under the new regime and that many people would be left outside the mainstream training programme and struggle to further their careers.
Junior doctors north of the border said last night that even upon gaining employment, they face financial peril through being forced to relocate throughout the nation at a whim, unable to choose either their place of work or specialism. Morale is also under pressure. Dr Kevin Cormack, who is seeking a paediatrics post in the east coast of Scotland, told The Herald yesterday: "I don't feel valued as a doctor at all. Instead, I'm being treated as a commodity. This system disempowers the entire medical profession."
The junior doctors warn the system - devised, some say, to encourage "psychobabble" language in application forms and assessed in some cases by non-medical staff - has been introduced prematurely, and will lead to less-competent doctors providing substandard patient care.
On the ground, increasing numbers of junior doctors are leaving the profession altogether. In some cases, juniors in Scotland are choosing to retrain as solicitors or estate agents, or continue their medical careers abroad.
The rising unrest surrounding MTAS comes as the BMA's Junior Doctor Committee called at the weekend for the procedures to be scrapped.
Dr Graeme Eunson, chairman of the BMA committee, said yesterday: "Junior doctors are fully committed to the NHS, and it's deeply sad that young, enthusiastic doctors are having to take to the streets to make that clear."
In the face of such criticism, the government has moved to revise, partly, the MTAS system, allowing junior doctors to submit CVs and portfolios in support of their applications.
Those doctors who believe they have been unfairly overlooked for a first round of interviews, meanwhile, are to be given the opportunity to have their application reviewed by a trained adviser.
Lord Hunt, Health Minister, said: "I know that this has been a difficult time for junior doctors, and hope that this reassures them that we have listened to their concerns."
Nevertheless, junior doctors remain adamant that the NHS should return to its previous recruitment system, and intend to intensifytheir campaign at this weekend's marches in Glasgow and London.
Norman Lamb, LibDem health spokesman, said: "The government has bowed to the inevitable but this chaos is of its own making and it has caused distress to a large number of junior doctors."
