Update – latest on MTAS and judicial review
From Mmc
Update – latest on MTAS and judicial review
18 May 2007
Following this week’s judicial review and ministerial statement about MTAS, we would like to update you on recent events affecting applications to specialist training, and address questions that have been asked about the BMA’s position.
What was the outcome of the Judicial Review, and what does it mean for my job application?
On Wednesday and Thursday (16-17 May, 2007) the High Court heard a challenge, brought by Remedy UK, to the decisions made by the Review Group looking at failures of the MTAS system in England. A judgment is expected next week. Postgraduate deaneries in England were due to start informing applicants of the outcomes of their interviews next Monday - it is now possible that any job offers will not be made until after the judgment.
Why was the BMA at the High Court?
The BMA was most definitely not at the High Court to defend MTAS, although recent statements by the Secretary of State for Health may have given that impression. We were named as an interested party by the claimant, Remedy UK, and given the gravity of the issue, attended Court. We have consistently expressed our anger at the Department of Health’s appalling handling of these reforms, which is clearly apparent from our submissions to the Court.
If Remedy UK are unsuccessful, we will not pursue costs against them.
Why has the BMA “welcomed the abandonment of MTAS” when the process is still going on?
The acronym ‘MTAS’ refers strictly to the online application system used as part of the process for appointing doctors to specialist training posts. On Tuesday (15 May) the Health Secretary announced that the MTAS computer system would not be used in the second round of applications, or to allocate posts on the basis of doctors’ preferences. From the point of view of applicants it has effectively been abolished for the duration for the appointment process. As Remedy UK stated in the High Court, “The MTAS computer process has now been abandoned.”
In our press release responding to the Secretary of State’s announcement, we did not intend to give the impression that the whole process for appointing doctors to speciality training posts had been scrapped. While we lobbied hard for this earlier in the year, it would be damaging if it happened at this late stage, when doctors have all had at least one interview in the hope of being appointed to a run-through post, and some applying for GP posts have already had job offers. It was suggested this week that the whole process should be suspended. As stated in our press release, we do not believe that this would be in the interests of doctors or patients, but we would not wish to make personal criticisms of any group or individual advancing a particular solution.
Despite the concessions made by the government as a result of the work of the Review Group, we believe the situation remains a mess, and are calling for a cast-iron guarantee that no doctor in training will lose out on training or employment as a result of the government’s mistakes.
How can the BMA say that the Junior Doctors Conference rejected proposals that would involve interviews being written off?
The Junior Doctors conference in April was asked to consider what the BMA’s negotiating position on MTAS should be. It rejected a motion calling on the BMA to withdraw from the MTAS Review Group, and another proposing that: “the whole application system so far is scrapped and that everyone has to re-apply for the StR and FTSTA posts that are available via a new applications round” This motion was defeated after it had been made very clear to conference that such a solution would mean interviews that had already taken place being written off.
Conference voted that it would be acceptable for the BMA to negotiate for candidates to be interviewed for all four of the posts they applied to, or for a one-year suspension of MMC. We then returned to the Review Group and argued strongly for these solutions in England but were forced to concede that they were simply impossible given the short time frame and lack of consultant manpower available for 65,000 extra interviews. We remain committed to getting the best possible solution for our members, which we believe is for the interviews they have already had not to be written off, and for successful candidates to be appointed to long-term specialist training posts.
Remedy UK has now also acknowledged that it is not possible to scrap MMC entirely and is no longer advocating the wholesale scrapping of the process this year, or a return to the old system of SpRs and SHOs. We do not share their support for a solution which would see our members appointed only to temporary, rather than long-term posts, and facing yet more uncertainty next year.
What is the BMA’s position on MTAS?
Our position throughout this mess has been to fight for both our members’ interests and patient safety. We believe it would be unfair on the thousands of doctors who have already been interviewed to take away what may well be their only chance of getting into a long-term training post. If posts cannot be filled by August, NHS trusts have made it clear that they will seriously consider filling them with non-training grade doctors. This would not be in the interests of our members and we therefore believe that the process for appointing doctors to run-through posts should continue, with all interviews that have taken place left to stand.
Why hasn’t the BMA done more to fight MTAS?
For years, the BMA was a lone voice warning at the break-neck speed at which MMC was being introduced. The options open to us in our campaign for a delay were limited and industrial action was not legally possible. Despite this, the BMA put enormous pressure on the government, generating extensive media coverage on shortages of SHO posts, the poor implementation of MMC, and the MTAS debacle. We also gave financial and political support to the public protests organised by Remedy UK in March.
Dr Jo Hilborne, chairman, BMA Junior Doctors Committee
Dr Andrew Rowland, vice chairman, BMA Junior Doctors Committee
