Growing boycott of 'flawed' recruitment
From Mmc
Growing boycott of 'flawed' recruitment
By Celia Hall, Medical Editor Last Updated: 1:57am GMT 09/03/2007
The row over training of junior doctors intensified yesterday as more senior consultants decided to boycott the interview panels.
Hopes that a Government climbdown on Tuesday would reduce pressure to abandon the new system faded as two more groups decided they could not conduct the interviews when they were not confident that the right candidates had been selected for interview.
Eight plastic surgeons on the panel in the North West, based in Manchester, have informed the postgraduate training body that they will not proceed with the interviews scheduled for later this month.
They said the interviews should be rescheduled for a later date, when candidates' CVs should be taken into account.
In Birmingham, cardio-thoracic surgeons have taken a similar course. Short-listed doctors were learning last night that interviews were being cancelled.
In addition, two major London hospitals sent stinging letters to the national body responsible for postgraduate medical education.
The new training programme for junior doctors and its online application service has turned into a disaster, with thousands of brightest, best-qualified young doctors not even called for interviews and left without the prospect of a job.
There were 30,000 applications for 22,000 specialist registrar posts, which are always strongly contested. The new system excluded the use of CVs, which left young doctors with extra qualifications and more experience at a disadvantage.
The website crashed repeatedly; in some areas "long-listing" of candidates did not take place; and short-listing was rushed, with deadlines extended.
There are reports of applications being lost and muddled. Doctors who applied for a post in one speciality were offered a job in another.
Patricia Hewitt, the Health Secretary, agreed for an immediate review of the system, which is now being carried out by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges. It may call for some changes today.
The British Medical Association's junior and senior doctors say the system should be suspended. The Royal College of Surgeons and the Royal College of Anaesthetists have made their own protests. In the West Midlands, Dr David Nicholl, consultant neurologist, and Bob Spychal, consultant general surgeon, say in a letter that they believe the Government and the academy were "misguided and likely to exacerbate problems by failing to call for an immediate suspension".
They are inviting other interviewers to sign the letter.
At St George's Hospital, Tooting, a letter has been sent to Prof Elizabeth Paice, chairman of the Conference of Post Graduate Medical Deans, calling on them to "revoke the current fatally flawed system".
Rene Chang, director of the hospital's transplant unit, said: "This has been a fiasco and should be stopped now. I know personally a prize-winning senior house officer (SHO) who has not been short-listed for anything.
"I know that none of the SHOs at the intensive care unit at St Thomas' Hospital, the premier unit in the country and one that serves the MPs of the House of Parliament, has been short-listed for interviews.
At St Mary's Hospital, west London, [another long letter] itemising flaws sent to Prof Paice says the review must be prepared to recommend "major changes".
