Royal College of Surgeons (Eng)
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22 March 07
I am very grateful indeed to all of you who responded so quickly to the survey. I thought it important to seek your views and equally important to let you all see the results.
5900 Fellows and Members in the UK were surveyed (that equates to total number of Fellows and Members for whom we have email addresses) and there were 2386 responses, a response rate of 40.4%.
The results are:
Option A……..80…..….3.3%
Option B……414…….17.4%
Option C…..1892…….79.3%
I am still involved in discussions with the Review group and will update all of you as we progress.
Mr Bernard Ribeiro CBE
President
20 March 07
Dear Fellow / Member
You will be aware from recent emails, the MMC and MTAS websites and reports in the media, of the concerns that have been raised and discussions that have been taking place about MTAS. It is important that the College now has an indication of the views of Fellows and Members on this matter. I should be grateful if you would respond to the question below, by return email, indicating your overall view as A, B or C. I hope to be able to collate a significant number of responses by noon tomorrow.
On the basis of any personal experience you have had as an applicant / trainer / advisor / assessor / interviewer, do you consider that MTAS:
A is working well generally and should be continued, subject to any necessary modifications; or
B has worked less than adequately but is capable of continuation, subject to significant modifications as currently proposed; or
C has such fundamental flaws that it is incapable of continued operation and should be abandoned for the 2007 round with a return to the deanery appointment processes that were in place last year.
Thank you in anticipation of your assistance
Bernard Ribeiro CBE
President
The Royal College of Surgeons of England
09 March 07
To all Members and Fellows of The Royal College of Surgeons of England resident in the UK
MTAS
I have just returned from an all day meeting of the review group at the Department of Health that included representatives from The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and the British Medical Association. I thought you should see immediately a press release that we are issuing tonight from the College summarising the real progress I think we have made today.
Surgeons agree rescue measures for failing MTAS system
The Royal College of Surgeons has successfully negotiated a rescue package for trainee surgeons. The Department of Health has agreed to re-run the first round of the Medical Training and Application Service (MTAS) to make sure that all worthy candidates will be shortlisted.
Surgeons will now use full CVs and the customary structured interview to select candidates for jobs rather than relying on a computerised selection process which has clearly failed and has caused deep distress to both trainees and those who were tasked with selection.
All candidates who have been previously selected for interview will still be interviewed, but trained medical advisors will now go back and examine in detail the candidates who were left out first time around. Those candidates who are worthy of training posts will now re-enter the process and go forward to interview at no disadvantage.
The President of the Royal College of Surgeons, Mr Ribeiro said,
“Over the last few weeks I have gathered evidence from surgeons, trainees and their families around the country and I understand the distress that the MTAS process has caused.
It is clear that there is a large group of highly skilled trainees who have not been short listed for interview due to faults in the application process.
I am pleased to say that the Secretary of State for Health has listened to our advice and acted quickly to set up this review which has hopefully reassured both patients and trainees. We can only be part of an application process that provides the NHS with first class trainee surgeons – this is vital for the safety of patients. The College has consistently given advice to the MMC team on a process for selection of surgeons by surgeons. I will continue to pressurise the Department to act on our advice to introduce a selection process for next year which is fair to all and effectively selects the highest quality surgical trainees for our NHS, our patients deserve no less.’’
Those consultants that will be involved in further round one interviews over coming weeks should note carefully the requirements we have insisted upon with regard to structured, in-depth interviews and the availability of application forms and full CVs for all applicants.
This email is being sent now to bring you up to date on discussions today. I shall write to you again next week as discussions unfold.
Bernard Ribeiro CBE President The Royal College of Surgeons of England
07 March 07
There have been several important meetings over the last few days at which the current situation with regard to MTAS has been discussed. I shall be writing to you again in the next day or so with detailed information about these discussions and I will be issuing a press release.
In the meantime can I inform those of you who will be involved in interviews at ST1, ST2 or ST3 level that it has been agreed by Council that these should be conducted only with CVs available for all candidates and the opportunity to probe trainees fully with regard to the range of their abilities, to ensure that the best candidates are selected.
Bernard Ribeiro CBE
