Modernising Medical Careers is going smoothly (letters)

From Mmc

Modernising Medical Careers is going smoothly

March 12 2007

Your coverage does not reflect the reality of the junior doctor appointments process in Scotland. Claims that the system is in "chaos" and that the appointments process has been suspended pending a review are incorrect. Interviews in the first round of matching doctors to training programmes are proceeding as planned and feedback from postgraduate deans suggests the process is working well.

NHS Education for Scotland (NES), which is administering the process, reports receiving a number of inquiries about Modernising Medical Careers. The majority of these inquiries relate to issues around terms and conditions of the jobs and are typical of the kind of concerns raised during any interview round. The major concern raised by candidates is that some of them have been offered interview times in Scotland which clash with times and dates of interviews elsewhere.

This problem has affected 50 people. Given that more than 5000 people are being interviewed in Scotland, this represents less than 1% of interviews in which problems have been identified, and NES is working through these cases on an individual basis to resolve these difficulties. advertisement

A number of other concerns have surfaced in the correspondence pages of your newspaper. In the main, they centre on individuals who have not been offered an interview in the first round who believe their experience entitles them to be considered.

I have been in contact with a number of senior clinicians involved in the shortlisting process. They have been at pains to point out to me that they consider the shortlisting criteria to be fair, transparent and an improvement on the less structured process that has been in operation prior to the introduction of MMC.

Furthermore, a number of these clinicians report investigating complaints made to them by juniors who have not been shortlisted. In several cases, their applications provided inadequate information and, had they submitted a similar standard of application under the old system, they were equally unlikely to have been shortlisted.

Throughout the development of MMC in Scotland, we have been concerned to maintain a flexible and pragmatic approach to its implementation. This has served us well and may explain the difference between our experience and that reported in some other parts of the UK.

I am heartened that the Academy of Royal Colleges' review of round one of the new process is being chaired by a Scot, Professor Neil Douglas, who is aware of the efforts being made in Scotland to ensure that applicants have every opportunity to obtain a suitable post.

NES has put in place a system to ensure that all candidates who have been unsuccessful on the first round receive advice and coaching as to how they might improve their chances in the second round. This arrangement was already agreed in Scotland before the academy's approach to Patricia Hewitt.

Under the old system of appointments, around 5000 to 6000 interview panels would convene across the UK each year in several hundred different organisations to appoint junior doctors against varying criteria.

We have replaced this approach, which had a number of administrative deficiencies, with an auditable process that brings transparency to the appointment of junior doctors. In Scotland, most junior doctors and consultants have set about making the system work for them. It is my firm belief that it will work in Scotland, and training of future generations of doctors will be better for it; as will patient care. - Dr Harry Burns, Chief Medical Officer, St Andrew's House, Regent Road, Edinburgh.