High court examines MTAS fiasco
From Mmc
High court examines MTAS fiasco
The junior doctors’ specialty training recruitment fiasco is at the centre of a high court hearing today (16/05/07).
A judge is deciding whether to hear a legal challenge into the online application process, which was effectively abandoned by health secretary Patricia Hewitt earlier this week.
Pressure group Remedy UK is claiming: The MTAS (medical training application service) has been a ‘catastrophic failure’ and is unfair to applicants There was inadequate consultation on the recommendations made by the review group seeking solutions to the fiasco.
During the hearing BMA leaders will counter claims that they were ‘hopelessly compromised’ in their response to the review group recommendations by being a member of the review group.
Junior doctors and consultants leaders have said criticisms of the BMA’s response to the recruitment crisis were ‘wholly misconceived’.
In written statements to the Royal Courts of Justice in London, BMA junior doctors committee chair Jo Hilborne, pictured, said the association was the proper body to consult with on remedies to the recruitment problems.
Dr Hilborne said it would have been inconceivable to consult with the 32,000 affected doctors given the practicalities of such an exercise and, in particular, the urgency of the review.
She said the BMA was never consulted on the aspects of the MTAS system under scrutiny and so had no responsibility for its failure.
‘The BMA has no responsibility whatsoever for the difficulties that have arisen with the MTAS system, but has responded promptly and proactively to the problems by trying to work constructively with Remedy UK, with the defendant [the Department of Health] and with others to find the best solution that is available in the circumstances,’ Dr Hilborne says in her evidence.
Dr Hilborne and BMA central consultants and specialists committee chair Jonathan Fielden, who also submitted evidence to the court, said Remedy UK’s proposed solution - to interview applicants for all four of their chosen posts - was impractical, as it would result in 65,000 additional interviews.
Mr Justice Goldring is due to decide whether Remedy UK has a case for a judicial review. If the judge decides there is a case for the Department of Health to answer, the judicial review would start straight away and would be expected to last two days.
