MTAS Update - 23 March 2007
From Mmc
MTAS Update - 23 March 2007
College Council discussed today MTAS and the way forward, following recent statements from the Review Group and from the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges. We have agreed a way forward which is outlined in this letter.
Advice, both from Fellows and Members and from trainees, and more particularly from MTAS applicants, is very mixed. Some feel strongly the College should advise Fellows and Members to pull out of the system altogether, while others feel equally strongly that the process has gone satisfactorily, if not always perfectly and it would be quite wrong to disengage from the process at this stage, particularly as many candidates have now had interviews.
As a College we have a duty of care to our trainees and to those who aspire to a career in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, and we have to do what is best for the specialty. These are our guiding principles in managing this situation. Some have made much of the political context, and in some cases with reason, but we have decided the priority for us at the moment is to ensure the recruitment of able doctors to our specialty.
Considering that we are well into the process of selection in many regions, and that many Deaneries are content with the process, there is nonetheless general acceptance that the shortlisting process has been seriously deficient. We are proposing that we evolve a system of selection, based on interview and based on procedures previously evolved for Obstetrics and Gynaecology.
At this stage the only way to ensure equity is to interview everyone whose first choice was for Obstetrics and Gynaecology in the relevant Deanery. As with the previous National system, individuals will then carry their score to other Deaneries, to which they have applied, and where appropriate, without further interview be considered for appointment.
This system recognises that everyone would be treated equally and appointed on the basis of ability and aptitude assessed at the interview/selection process.
Many individuals have already been interviewed but there is no doubt, that many, many more will need to be interviewed, and we are trying to assess more precise numbers at present. This will not be possible without very considerable additional resource and personnel at Deanery level, and we are working out the detail of how this will work at present.
We understand that many Fellows and Members have already given considerable time to this exercise and that capacity and goodwill is wearing thin. However we do hope to be able to mobilise additional experienced and suitably trained personnel, for example recently retired Fellows of the College, to help shoulder this burden.
I want to emphasise that we see this approach as an opportunity to put in place a fair and equitable method of selection which will be to the benefit of the specialty, but also capitalise on the work that has already proceeded. If the Department does not agree with this approach, or does not make the appropriate resource available to make it work, then we may have no alternative but to advise withdrawal from the MTAS procedures, accepting that this will be hugely disruptive and damaging to many individuals and, possibly to the Specialty and the Service.
The detail of how all this will happen will be developed and co-ordinated centrally by the RCOG, using the expertise of individuals who had knowledge of the previous process. We will endeavour to ensure that all individuals who wish a career in Obstetrics and Gynaecology will be given the opportunity to be assessed at interview. However the responsibility for the outcomes will, for a variety of reasons, have to remain with MTAS.
Professor Allan Templeton President
